DVD Bonus Features Include a Writer/Director Audio Commentary and Eleven Never-Before-Seen,
Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes

Experience the Academy Award®-Winning Visual Effects of
THE GOLDEN COMPASS on Blu-Ray Disc

“Takes its place among the great fantasy films of all time.
Suspenseful and action-packed, a great family adventure.”
-Ben Lyons, E! Entertainment Television

– Embark on a heroic journey to save humanity as The Golden Compass arrives on DVD from New Line Home Entertainment on April 29, 2008. The sweeping family fantasy follows a curious young heroine, Lyra Belacqua, and her quest to protect the coveted Golden Compass – the last of a mystical, powerful device that can unveil the truth, reveal what others wish to hide and even see the future. Lyra’s courageous nature and determination to protect the device – and rescue her best friend – open the door to an adventure that will take her over sky and ocean to the wilds of the icy north, where she will gain powerful allies in fantastical creatures. Academy Award®-winner for Best Visual Effects, The Golden Compass features an all-star ensemble cast including Academy Award®-winner Nicole Kidman (The Hours), Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Sam Elliot (Ghostrider) and introduces Dakota Blue Richards. The film also features the distinguished voices of Academy Award-nominee Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Academy Award-winner Kathy Bates (Misery), Academy Award-nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient), Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Ian McShane (TV’s Deadwood).

Two-Disc Edition DVD Content (Standard/Blu-ray Disc)

· Feature-length audio commentary from writer/director Chris Weitz
· Eleven “Making-of” featurettes including “The Armoured Bears” featurette, “The Adaptation” featurette and the “Production Design” featurette
· Theatrical and teaser trailers
· 16×9 widescreen (2.35:1) version of the film
· Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete Audio and English 2.0 Stereo Surround
· 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio™ (Blu-ray only)
· English & Spanish subtitles

· English SDH subtitles (Blu-ray only)
· Closed captions (Standard Definition only)
· Enhanced visual commentary (Blu-ray only)
· Interactive menus (Blu-ray only)
· Galleries

Single-Disc Edition Content

· Animated menus
· 16×9 widescreen (2.35:1) or 4×3 fullscreen version of the film
· English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound, DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete Audio and English 2.0 Stereo Surround
· English & Spanish subtitles (Feature only)
· Closed captions (Feature only)
· Special sneak peeks of upcoming New Line Cinema films

The Golden Compass wins Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

Congratulations to the Visual Effects team led by Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has awarded The Golden Compass the BAFTA in the category of Special Visual Effects.

Congratulations to the VFX team led by Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood.

Photo: Dave Hogan/Getty Images

The Golden Compass has earned two nominations in technical categories: Best Art Direction (Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock.) and Best Visual Effects (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood).

Oscar ceremony scheduled for Feb. 24 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

The International Film Music Critics Association have announced their 2007 nominees for excellence in scoring for film and other visual media.

Alexandre Desplat’s score to The Golden Compass was nominated for Best Score of 2007 and Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction Film.

Desplat leads with seven nominations including Film Composer of The Year.

List of nominees.

The winners will be announced on Friday, February 15.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has nominated The Golden Compass in the category of Best Special Visual Effects (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood) for the 2008 Orange British Academy Film Awards.

The BAFTA ceremony will take place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on February 10.

Nominees for the Costume Designers Guild Awards have been announced by the Costume Designers Guild.

The Golden Compass was nominated for Best Fantasy Film to the credit of Ruth Myers.

Winners will be announced at the Beverly Wilshire, on February 19.

Dakota Blue Richards, star of The Golden Compass will be chatting LIVE with fans at Scholastic Kids on Wednesday December 19 at 6:30pm ET.

Be sure to enter their sweepstakes for a chance to win great prizes.

Fantasy films? There’s truth in there too

-Los Angeles Times, Sam Adams

Given a choice between Iraq and fairyland, it’s clear where moviegoers would prefer to spend time.

Despite the glut of politically themed movies on offer this season, audiences have embraced frothier fare: “The Golden Compass,” set in a parallel universe inhabited by comely witches and talking animals; fluffy musical romance “Enchanted,” which brings classic Disneyana to modern-day New York; and the dark animated adventure “Beowulf,” rife with decaying monsters and burnished gold dragons.

“Compass,” in fact, was No. 1 at the box office over the weekend. It pushed “Enchanted” to second place by earning an estimated $26.1 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, New Line Cinema reported Sunday.

And all this comes on the heels of the huge success of the “Lord of the Rings” films, the “Harry Potter” franchise and 2005’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

A successful fantastic film artfully mixes the familiar and the fanciful. For all their extraordinary elements, the worlds of Harry Potter and Middle-Earth feel tactile and inhabitable, often more so than the airbrushed universe of the X-Men or Superman. Wedding childlike wonder to grown-up themes (with some teen-delighting combat along the way), the result, studios hope, is a demographic smart bomb whose revenue-generating powers never go out of style.

(more…)

- Best Young Actress - Dakota Blue Richards

- Best Family Film (Live Action)

The 13th annual Critics Choice Awards will air live on VH1, January 7.