New Line Cinema today announced a wide array of promotional partners to support its upcoming fantasy adventure The Golden Compass including Coca-Cola, World Wildlife Fund, Sega, Wal-Mart, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Amazon.com, Emusic, FAO Schwarz, Target, Corgi International, Trans World Entertainment, Circuit City, Marie Claire and Scholastic.

Collectively, the promotional partnerships will result in approximately $50 million worth of advertising support, one billion consumer impressions, and $120 million of media value worldwide. Additionally, New Line has over 75 licensed partners producing hundreds of Golden Compass-related products worldwide, in six different categories including retail, beverage/concessions, non-profit, publishing, home entertainment, and in-book and online.

"The release of The Golden Compass is a true global event and the scope of our promotional partners on the film reflects that," says Rolf Mittweg, New Line Cinema's President and COO of Worldwide Distribution and Marketing. "There is already tremendous excitement for the release of this film all over the world, and the unprecedented reach of this campaign will continue to fuel that anticipation."

Highlights of the promotional partnerships include:

- Coca-Cola will create 12 million co-branded cups to be used in thousands of movie theaters worldwide and will feature a tie-in to its My COKE Rewards program including a co-branded landing page on the program website. Coca-Cola will also create theater displays and on-screen advertisements promoting The Golden Compass. This marks only the fourth time that Coca-Cola has done a Global Concession Program of this kind.

• - World Wildlife Fund will launch a special website at www.worldwildlife.org/goldencompass where visitors can view a panoramic lineup of the animal spirits or "daemons" from the film and can "adopt" a real-life animal whose species is featured in the film – including polar bears, snow leopards, and monkeys - through the site. The partnership also includes a PSA about global warming that is voiced by Dakota Blue Richards and a sweepstakes featuring a grand prize trip for four to Manitoba, Canada, to view polar bears in their natural habitat.

• - Sega is the exclusive worldwide interactive partner for The Golden Compass and is producing the official video game for the film, scheduled for release beginning December 1 in the United States. Sega will release the title on seven platforms, supported by a multi-million dollar marketing campaign that includes TV, print, and in-theater advertising as well as extensive in-store signage.

• - Burger King International will launch an aggressive program spanning Europe, Asia and Latin America that will include a kids meal program featuring 10 premium items based on characters, vehicles and objects from the world of the Golden Compass.

• - In Japan, Toyota will run a tie-in partnership to launch their new family car NOVA.

• - Cereal Partners Worldwide will feature The Golden Compass on 20 million cereal boxes throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia.

• - Corgi International is the worldwide master toy licensee for The Golden Compass and will release action figures, playsets, role-playing toys, electronic toys, and plush toys based on the film beginning in November. The toys will also be promoted with a special four-week signage program in Toys R Us stores beginning December 1.

• - New Line Home Entertainment is running a "Black Friday" promotion giving away one free ticket to The Golden Compass inside 13 of their top DVD titles at retailers nationwide.

• - Wal-Mart will run an exclusive promotion that includes a bonus disc of exclusive footage from the film and Sega video game beginning November 23. The Golden Compass publishing lines from Scholastic and Random House will also be featured in-store.

• - Borders has beem promoting The Golden Compass books and upcoming film through their popular Borders Short List which reaches over 20 million people. In July, they gave away mini-posters in conjunction with Harry Potter Nights. The Golden Compass books from Random House were featured in their "Summer Reading Program" and supported by national print advertising in USA Today and People magazine. Both publishing lines will also be featured in-store in November and December. Borders continues to distribute posters and mini one-sheets at its Educator Appreciation Nights this Fall.

• - Barnes & Noble will feature in-store displays at its 550 stores and will host a signing by author Philip Pullman at its Union Square store in New York on November 1.

• - Other activity includes support from such key partners as Best Buy, Circuit City, Target and Trans World Entertainment with a collective store count of approximately 4,000 and combined impressions of over 230,000,000. This support includes signage, displays and circular support of the Random House books, Sega game, and Scholastic film tie-in books.

• - GAP Kids will run a promotion in 125 stores across the UK featuring a chance to "Win a Part in the Subtle Knife" sweepstakes as well as in store signage.

• - Amazon.com will promote the film with banner ads across its Books, Games, Licensed Goods, DVD and Video Game pages and will issure email blasts to its users pre- and post-launch.

• - FAO Schwartz will host special holiday events at its flagship New York and Las Vegas stores in November and December. The Golden Compass was selected by the company as its feature event for the holidays and will be celebrated with extensive signage and the cover of the FAO holiday catalog which reaches 2 million consumers.

• - Marie Claire will feature Nicole Kidman on the cover of its December issue in the United States and in 13 international editions. The magazine will also run a sweepstakes in its October issue and online giving away a trip to the UK premiere.

• - Scholastic will provide 200,000 gifts with purchase of the Scholastic or Random House books at 3,000 book fairs in 66 locations in addition to running an extensive in-school marketing program from September through December.

Based on author Philip Pullman's bestselling novel, The Golden Compass tells the first story in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. An exciting fantasy adventure, the film is set in an alternative world populated by talking bears who fight wars, witches, Gyptians, and daemons. In the world of The Golden Compass, a person's soul lives on the outside of their body in the form of a daemon, an animal spirit that accompanies them through life. At the center of the story is Lyra (played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), a 12-year-old girl who starts out trying to rescue a friend – and winds up on an epic quest to save not only her world, but ours as well. The Golden Compass stars an ensemble cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott (Ghost Rider), Eva Green (Casino Royale) and the voices of Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings), Ian McShane (Deadwood), Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Kathy Bates (Charlotte's Web), and Kristin Scott Thomas (Gosford Park). The film is written and directed by Chris Weitz (About A Boy, Antz) and produced by Deborah Forte and Bill Carraro. The Golden Compass is scheduled for a Dec. 7, 2007 release.

About New Line Cinema Corporation:
Celebrating its 40th anniversary year, New Line Cinema is the most successful independent film company in the world. Its mission is to produce innovative, popular and profitable entertainment in the best creative environment. In addition to the production, marketing and distribution of theatrical motion pictures, the fully-integrated studio has divisions devoted to home entertainment, television, music, theater, merchandising and an international unit. In 2005, New Line partnered with HBO to form Picturehouse, a new theatrical distribution company to release independent films. A pioneer in franchise filmmaking, New Line's Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful film franchises in history. New Line is a division of Time Warner, Inc. (TWX).