THE GOLDEN COMPASS (2007)
Something about an alethiometer and daemon animal companions didn't quite fly onscreen, grossing only $70.1 million domestically. Fans of the Philip Pullman novel were rightly disappointed in Chris Weitz's adaptation, which cropped an essential, plot-twisting ending concerning orphan Lyra's best friend and diluted its more sinister, religion-defying Magisterium elements into family-friendly pop soda. The iron-clad bear warriors still shocked and awed us though.
This weekend, we'll know if star-studded romcom ''He's Just Not That Into You'' will join our list of book-to-big-screen projects -- like ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' and ''The Golden Compass'' -- that left fans feeling jilted