New Line Cinema said: "Like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, it [Northern Lights] is one of those books that captures your imagination and just runs with it".
Philip Pullman has written three books in the trilogy, Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass - which in January won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize.
In an interview with CBBC Newsround Online immediately afterwards, Philip hinted that a film was in the offing.
But he told us that to make it look as spectacular as he wants, it needs a lot of money, and "you don't get that sort of money hanging on trees".
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