The needle points to adventure

Hinging its hopes on a new fantasy franchise, New Line has been hitting the promotional circuit hard at Cannes for the first His Dark Materials film.

And after building anticipation online with footage snippets and behind the scenes glances, the teaser trailer has arrived, boasting that The Golden Compass (there’s a snarky part of our British soul that still wants to call it Northern Lights) is the next big thing. Naturally, Lord Of The Rings is referenced, but once the promo really gets going, Compass stands on its own two (or, in the case of furry polar bear warrior Iorek Byrnison, four) feet, with what looks like a rip-roaring adventure.

Compressing Philip Pullman’s first novel into a film can’t have been an easy feat- you have to chronicle Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards)’s quest to find the truth behind her destiny, while avoiding the scheming Mrs Coulter (Nicole Kidman in ice maiden form), and helping Lord Asriel (a dashing Daniel Craig). The trailer alone is chock full of witches (led by the sexy Eva Green), bears, daemons (it’s a long story- read the book) and views of an alternate Oxford.