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http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...-ANGELS-DC.XML

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Buoyed by the box-office success of "The Da Vinci Code," Columbia Pictures is planning to turn author Dan Brown's first best-selling religious thriller, "Angels & Demons," into a movie, the studio said on Tuesday.

The Sony Corp. -owned film distributor has signed a deal with Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldman, who adapted "Da Vinci Code" for the big screen, to create a script for a sequel based on "Angels & Demons," a Columbia spokesman said.

"Angels," a bestseller published in 2000, was Brown's first novel to introduce the character of Robert Langdon, the crime-solving Harvard professor of iconography and religious art played by actor Tom Hanks in the "The Da Vinci Code."

A studio spokesman confirmed a report in Daily Variety that no deals have yet been reached for Hanks or "Da Vinci" director Ron Howard to return for the "Angels" project, but that both would have first crack at the new film.

Variety also said the studio was planning to reunite the producing team of Brian Grazer and John Calley for the "Angels" project.

In addition to "The Da Vinci Code," Goldman's screen credits include "Batman & Robin," boxing drama "Cinderella Man" and "A Beautiful Mind," for which he won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.

Columbia acquired feature rights to "Angels" and all future novels involving the Langdon character, as part of its 2003 acquisition of film rights to Brown's "Da Vinci Code."

Despite mainly negative reviews from critics at its world premiere at the Cannes film festival last week, "Da Vinci" went on to score the second-biggest opening tally of all time at the global box office, raking in nearly $232 million worldwide.

The film, like the book, teams up Langdon with a young French cryptologist (played in the movie by Audrey Tautou) to solve a murder mystery entwined in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and a supposed alternate history of Christianity.

A central premise of the story is that Jesus fathered a child by Mary Magdalene, and that a clandestine society has for centuries protected the identity of Christ's living descendants from agents of the Christian Church.

In "Angels," another murder investigation leads Langdon on a quest to thwart a plot by an ancient group, the Illuminati, to blow up the Vatican during a papal conclave.

After grossing $77.1 million domestically in its first weekend, "Da Vinci" generated another $8.9 million on Monday, an extremely robust weekday box-office figure for a film primarily aimed at an adult audience.
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I thought "Angels & Demons" was a FAR better book than "Da Vinci", so looking forward to this.

Josh H

I liked Angels & Demons much better than the Davinci Code as well, so I'm looking forward to it as well.

RyoHazuki

Who does Akiva Goldsman have the dirt on?

Kal-El

I always thought A&D was more movie-script friendly than DVC. And I hope the producers are smart enough to cast Monica Belucci for Vittoria. Because I personally can't think of anybody else perfect for the part ever since I read it.

DonnachaOne

I just hope this keeps him away from I Am Legend...

riley_dude

I feel the same way. I thought A Beautiful Mind was horribly written and from what I hear this is too. I haven't seen it yet.
Hopefully Howard will not be invloved either.

Josh-da-man

I'm surprised that this wasn't in pre-production already.

Geofferson

I enjoyed this better than DVC as well. Hopefully the movie is an improvement too.

starseed1981

Exact same thing I was thinking while reading the book. Although, those pictures of her from this years Cannes make her look abit fugly in real lighting.

I like Nicholas Cage (in Face Off evilness) for the Camerlengo.

FantasticVSDoom

I enjoyed A & D much better than DaVinci myself all the way up to the wretched ending, then it loses it. Oh well, this one will be interesting to watch come together.

raven56706

i bet he wishes he can erase that

Tommy_Harn

Good god that ending was indeed horrendous. Especially when .

I haven't read The DaVinci Code but from seeing the film, it seems that it is fairly similar to Angels & Demons (go figure, it was penned by the same guy). Will that translate to the A & D adaptation offering very little that is new to your average movie goer?

mdc3000

I thought A&D was head and shoulders above DVC, but if they keep the same creatives from the DVC movie, I'm worried. Akiva couldn't write his way out of a box...I don't mind Hanks or Grazer being involved, but can Howard and Goldsman move on to something else... there isn't the right "magic" there IMO. Or at least, for the love of God, get a new EDITOR to work on this flick...make sure it's not overlong and tedious.

MATT

Josh-da-man

Yeah, that was pretty dreadful, but I thought the whole ending was competely over-the-top.

B.A.

So it seems most of us agree on A & D's horrible ending.

GoldenJCJ

I somewhat enjoyed A&D (yes the ending was shit), but it beacme fairly tedious when I realzed the entire story was just repeating itself over and over it got a little repetitive for me.


I would have liked fo rthe book to end on a down note, with Brown would have had to make few changes here and there but I would have liked that ending better.

maingon

i thought Angels and Demons was a pretty good book

movieking

Everyone that I spoke to that read both books agreed that the first was superior.

As for me, I found that both fell apart with the endings, especially DVC.

dhmac

I've read both A&D and DVC and agree that A&D is the better storyline mainly because the incredible urgency of the main search in it at least made sense. In contrast, the urgency on display in the DVC made little sense. There's no reason Sophie and Langdon couldn't have taken a week or more off to go someplace to hump like rabbits while things cooled off, and then returned to continue the search at a leisurely pace. The secret has been fine for 2,000 years so I think it'll still be just fine if it takes another week to discover. And the police wanting Langdon as a suspect just wasn't enough justification for the urgency of their search.

But the endings of both books are pretty crappy - I'm not sure which ending is worse, quite frankly. Dan Brown seems to be one of those writers who can create an intriguing premise, but can't write a good ending. (I think it's funny that reading a Sidney Sheldon book inspired DB to write because he thought "he could do better". I wonder how many hopeful writers have now been inspired by DB because they think they can do better?)

al_bundy

i thought letting langdon live without a good explanation was bad, but it thought the pope's kid killing his father without knowing it was his father was pretty cool

pizzamousechips

Hey al_bundy, those are spoilers! Edit edit edit.

devilshalo

Hanks, Howard circle prequel to 'Da Vinci'
By Tatiana Siegel
April 12, 2007

Columbia Pictures has moved one step closer to reuniting "The Da Vinci Code" team of star Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard.

Sources close to the project say that Hanks and Howard are in final negotiations to return for "Da Vinci" prequel "Angels & Demons."

Internet rumors have been swirling that Hanks is about to receive Hollywood's biggest payday ever to reprise his role as Harvard professor Robert Langdon.

Sony declined comment about the status of the highly anticipated project, which also derives from a Dan Brown best-seller.

But sources say the studio, which benefited from "Da Vinci's" $758 million worldwide boxoffice haul, has set an early January start date and has hired A-list casting directors Jane Jenkins and Debbie McWilliams to fill out the thriller's supporting roles.

Sources say the studio also is waiting for Akiva Goldsman to finish his adapted screenplay, which centers on Langdon, who becomes embroiled in murders involving the Illuminati and the Vatican.

PopcornTreeCt

Wow, I didn't know that movie made that much money.

Joe Molotov

It's US take was okay, but It made a ton of money overseas.

GoldenJCJ

I thought DaVinci Code was just alright, but I'm glad to hear both Hanks and Howard are on board agian. I'll definitely be looking forward to this.