On an alternate Earth, a church called the Magisterium controls people's beliefs under the auspices of the Authority. Every person's soul exists as their own animal companion, a dæmon, and they must remain in close proximity. When young, people's dæmons change form reflecting their moods, but at the onset of puberty the dæmons settle into one form.
Lyra Belacqua is an orphan raised at Jordan College with her dæmon Pantalaimon or "Pan". Her uncle is Lord Asriel, an explorer and scholar of the college. When he returns from seeking the elusive Dust — cosmic particles that the Magisterium forbids being mentioned — Asriel reveals that Dust at the North Pole links to infinite worlds. He is granted funding for another expedition though, if proven, his theory would undermine the Magisterium's control.
Kidnappers called "the Gobblers" abduct children, including Lyra's friends, Roger Parslow and Billy Costa, a young Gyptian.
Marisa Coulter, a wealthy "friend" of the college, invites Lyra to stay with her in London. Just before she leaves, the Master of the college entrusts Lyra with her uncle's alethiometer, an artefact that reveals the truth, warning her to keep it secret. Mrs. Coulter becomes domineering after Lyra boasts of knowing about Dust. Lyra discovers she leads the Gobblers. After Mrs. Coulter's dæmon tries to steal the alethiometer, she and Pan flee, but are captured. A band of Gyptians save Lyra from the Gobblers, and she joins the Gyptian army sailing north to Trollesund in Norwegian Lapland to rescue their abducted children.
Gyptian elder Farder Coram recognizes the alethiometer that, with his guidance, Lyra learns to decipher. Serafina Pekkala, queen of a witch clan, flies to the Gyptian ship and tells Lyra the children are at a Magisterial experimental station in Bolvangar. In league with the Magisterium, Mrs. Coulter sends two venomous mechanical spy-flies after Lyra; one is caught by Farder Coram and sealed in a tin, but the other escapes.
Asriel reaches Svalbard, the Kingdom of the Ice Bears, but is captured by Samoyed tribesmen hired by Mrs. Coulter, and imprisoned by the Ice Bears’ king, Ragnar Sturlusson, who usurped the throne.
At Trollesund, Lyra befriends Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby, who suggests she hire him and his friend Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear. Once a prince of the Ice Bears, Iorek was defeated in combat and exiled in shame. After Farder and Lyra find Iorek and help him recover his armour, he and Scoresby join the Gyptian trek to Bolvangar.
Following directions from the alethiometer, Lyra finds Billy Costa in a stupor clutching a dried fish in place of his dæmon. The Gobblers have experimented on him using "intercision", which separated him from his dæmon. They return to the Gyptian camp, which is attacked by Samoyeds who capture Lyra. She is taken to the Ice Bear king, Ragnar, with Iorek and Lee in pursuit in Lee's hot air balloon. Lyra tricks Ragnar into single combat with Iorek, who kills Ragnar and reclaims the throne.
Iorek carries Lyra to Bolvangar, but she is forced to cross a chasm over a narrow ice bridge alone before it collapses. Reaching the station, Lyra reunites with Roger. Caught by scientists, Lyra and Pan are thrown into the intercision chamber, but are unconscious when they are rescued by Mrs. Coulter. Lyra wakes up in Mrs. Coulter’s quarters and she explains to Lyra that the Magisterium believe intercision protects children from Dust's corrupting influence, when their dæmon's form settles. Mrs. Coulter admits she could not let Lyra be intercised as she is her mother, who was forced to give her up; Lyra then realises Asriel is her father. Mrs. Coulter asks for the alethiometer, but Lyra gives her the sealed tin containing the spy-fly, which stuns her mother. Lyra destroys the intercision machine, then leads the children outside, where they are confronted by Tatar guards and their wolf dæmons. The guards are defeated by Iorek, Scoresby, the Gyptians, and witches led by Serafina.
Scoresby flies Lyra, Roger, Iorek, and Serafina north in his balloon in search of Asriel. Serafina relates a prophecy with Lyra at its crux in an upcoming war with the Magisterium, plotting to inflict their controlling Authority over all other worlds in the multiverse. Lyra commits to fighting the Magisterium.
On 11 February 2002, following the success of New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the studio bought the rights to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. In July 2003, Tom Stoppard was commissioned to write the screenplay. Directors Brett Ratner and Sam Mendes expressed interest in the film, but a year later, Chris Weitz was hired to direct after approaching the studio with an unsolicited 40-page treatment. The studio rejected the script, asking Weitz to start from scratch.
Reception
The North American opening weekend return was "a little disappointing" for New Line Cinema, earning US$25.8 million with total domestic box-office of $70 million compared to an estimated $180 million production budget. Despite this, the film's fortunes rebounded as its performance outside the United States was described as "stellar" by Variety, and as "astonishing" by New Line. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed $53,198,635 and became the second-highest-grossing non-sequel of 2007 there (behind The Simpsons Movie).
