'Angels and Demons' is On the Fast Track

Ron Howard is moving on the 'Da Vinci' sequel

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Thursday, October 25th 2007 at 5:37 AM

Hey now, yesterday we told you that scripter Akiva Goldsman was busy putting the final touches on Angels and Demons for director Ron Howard and Columbia Pictures and it seems the follow-up to The Da Vinci Code is already casting and is still set for a December 2008 start.

The story is based on Dan Brown's novel and Tom Hanks will be back to reprise the role of Robert Langdon, a Harvard-based expert on religious symbols, who this time sleuths a mystery that involves a secret society and a conspiracy that leads to Vatican City and threatens the future of the Catholic Church. Believe it or not it actually isn't based on sex with little boys.

Howard is going to be rushing all around though as he begins production on Angels in February he will also be supervising the editing and post-production of his screen adaptation of Peter Morgan's play Frost/Nixon which Howard wrapped shooting on last week.

Despite The Da Vinci Code's shortcomings it still managed $218 million at the domestic box-office and $758 million worldwide, and considering Columbia made a seven-figure deal with Goldsman to turn the earlier novel into a sequel, I think it is safe to say they are expecting more of the same.