..in Encyclical-Land to bring you this. I was (and still am) going to do a Golden Compass post next week (the movie is released in the US on 12/7), but I couldn’t wait on this.
Using the positive review of the film that has come to us from the USCCB film office, a review penned by Harry Forbes and John Mulderig,   New Line’s advertising agency is reaching out to diocesan publications. This email was sent this morning:

New Line Cinema has expressed interest in possibly advertising The Golden Compass in the Catholic press. As I’m sure many of you are aware, there has been some controversy around this film because of the philosophy of the author and the nature of the book(s) used as the basis for the film. The film opens December 7. We’ve spoken extensively about this film with Harry Forbes, Director of the USCCB’s Office of Film and Broadcasting. Below please find a link to Mr. Forbes’ review (he gave The Golden Compass an A II classification-Adults & Adolescents) which was posted last evening on the CNS website and which will be posted today on the USCCB’s.
 
According to Mr. Forbes’ review, “Whatever author Pullman’s putative motives in writing the story, writer-director Chris Weitz’s film, taken purely on its own cinematic terms, can be viewed as an exciting adventure story with, at its core, a traditional struggle between good and evil, and a generalized rejection of authoritarianism”.
 
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/movies/07mv242.htm
 
Because of the extremely abbreviated time element, we’re only approaching those newspapers located within the top 50 television markets which publish weekly. Please get back to me by 2:00 PM EST (11:00 AM PST) to let me know if you want to be included on the quote. No budgets or ad sizes have yet been discussed. We will be suggesting Full Page and Half Page Full Color to simplify the art custom sizing process. Our goal is to issue insertion orders by end of day today with artwork delivered via e mail (PDF) as per our normal process by end of day Monday.
 
Pleased call or e mail me immediately if you have any questions or require any additional information.
 
Thanks very much for your immediate attention.
 
Regards,
 
Bob Bugle
National Account Manager
Advertising Media Plus

Well.
The most interesting thing to me is the wording of this letter, frankly. That the studio (or advertising agency – it is not clear)  has spoken “extensively” to the USCCB reviewer about the film.
What does that mean?
As I said, I have more to say next week, but please know that I did read the books a few years ago and wrote a piece about them for OSV.
And in the name of equal time, here’s an interview (email) that Peter Chattaway (Christianity Today contributor, committed Orthodox Christian)  conducted with Pullman.
Insight Scoop has several related posts, with references to their new book on the matter by Sandra Miesel and Peter Vere.
Fr. James Martin at the America blog.