'Angels & Demons' beams past 'Star Trek' at box office Read more: "'Angels & Demons' beams past 'Star Trek' at box office"

"Angels & Demons" flew to the top spot at the box office, edging out "Star Trek" with $48 million in ticket sales.

The thriller, adapted from the Dan Brown novel and starring Tom Hanks as Harvard symbologist-turned-Vatican savior, fared less well than Hanks' "The Da Vinci Code," which took in $77.1 million its first weekend in 2006.

Still, even with less-than-stellar reviews, "Angels" toppled "Star Trek," which pulled in $43 million over its second weekend.

Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" locked in the No. 3 spot with $14.8 million in ticket sales.

"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" conjured up fourth place with a $6.9 million take. "Obsessed," remained a steady earner in fifth place with $4.6 million in sales.

"Angels & Demons" was the only new release, but the weekend remained robust for movies, which have been drawing recession-blind crowds and record-breaking profits that are 16% more than last year.

"We're headed toward a record-breaking summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "If you've got a blockbuster in the pipeline, you're very happy. "

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2009/05/18/2009-05-18_demons_take_over_scaring_off_star_trek.html

Ewan McGregor: 'Nothing Anti-Catholic' About 'Angels & Demons'

He may co-star in "Angels & Demons," Ron Howard's follow-up to the uber-successful "The Da Vinci Code," but Ewan McGregor doesn't understand why the movie's got the Catholic church all riled up.

"The Vatican weren't throwing their doors open for us as they were still upset over 'The Da Vinci Code.' ... We've been asked a lot about the controversy with the Vatican but no one has made it clear what the controversy is!," the actor said in an interview for ABC News Now's "Popcorn" with Peter Travers.

McGregor portrays Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in "Angels & Demons," adapted from Dan Brown's bestselling novel. Camerlengo is Italian for chamberlain, and in the Roman Catholic Church, he is one of the Pope's advisors. Though "Angels & Demons" was written as a prequel to "The Da Vinci Code," this movie presents it as a sequel.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Movies/story?id=7586038&page=1

"Angels" seen missing "Da Vinci" box office mark

"Angels & Demons," the film sequel to conspiracy thriller "The Da Vinci Code," will likely fall short of box office totals for its more religiously controversial predecessor when it opens on Friday.

Director Ron Howard's "Angels & Demons," starring Tom Hanks as symbology expert Robert Langdon, should make over $40 million this weekend while 2006's Da Vinci Code made $77 million at U.S. and Canada box offices, industry watchers say.

Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com Box Office said Angels lacks the buzz of its predecessor.

"It just doesn't have that cultural zeitgeist to it, because 'The Da Vinci Code' was a phenomenon, a worldwide phenomenon based on the Dan Brown book," he said.

Angels is also based on a novel from Brown, whose Da Vinci Code upset the Vatican for its storyline that Jesus impregnated Mary Magdalene, and church officials tried to keep their bloodline secret.

While the Vatican criticized the earlier film before it opened three years ago, it has taken a more measured tone against its sequel.

"The Vatican has finally learned that when you condemn a movie you encourage people to see it," said Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Da Vinci made $758 million at worldwide box offices, and was especially popular internationally, with $541 million coming from audiences outside the U.S. and Canada.

In the wake of that international success, Sony Corp's Sony Pictures plans to launch its sequel in nearly 100 countries on Friday, instead of staggering the release dates.

Sony Pictures said it expects the film to have an opening weekend in the $45 million range in the U.S. and Canada. But with box office totals rising industrywide, opening numbers have often outstripped expectations.

Going into last weekend's U.S. and Canada opening of "Star Trek," the studio behind the movie, Viacom Inc unit Paramount Pictures, said it expected an opening slightly higher than $50 million, and the movie made $75.2 million.

Box office watchers said Angels & Demons, which will open in 3,527 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, is still expected to be No. 1 at the box office this weekend, despite competition.

"Star Trek does seem to have a lot of momentum, but the question is how much of that first weekend was fan driven and how far could it fall," said Brandon Gray, president of tracking firm Box Office Mojo.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE54D6IS20090514

Vatican paper: 'Angels & Demons' film is harmless

Reviewers at the Vatican's newspaper have passed judgment on "Angels & Demons," finding the religious thriller commercial and inaccurate, but concluding it is "harmless" entertainment and not a danger to the church.

L'Osservatore Romano ran a review and an editorial in Wednesday's edition, critiquing the movie based on the Dan Brown best-selling novel of the same name.

"Angels & Demons" had its world premiere Monday in Rome, after director Ron Howard charged that the Vatican interfered with getting film permits to shoot scenes in the city - a contention the Vatican said was a publicity stunt.

The newspaper wrote that the movie was "a gigantic and smart commercial operation" filled with "stereotyped characters." The paper suggested moviegoers could make a game out of finding the many historical inaccuracies in the plot.

However, L'Osservatore praised Howard's "dynamic direction" and the "magnificent" reconstruction of locations like St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Much of the film was shot on sets that painstakingly recreated church landmarks.

The film offers "more than two hours of harmless entertainment, which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity," L'Osservatore's reviewer wrote. It's "a videogame that first of all sparks curiosity and is also, maybe, a bit of fun."

"Angels & Demons" features Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon of "The Da Vinci Code" fame, played by Tom Hanks. In the film, the Vatican turns to Langdon after an ancient secret brotherhood called the Illuminati kidnap four cardinals considered front-runners to be the next pope, and threaten to kill one an hour and then explode a bomb at the Vatican.

On Sunday, Howard said the Vatican had interfered with his efforts to get permits to shoot some scenes. A Vatican spokesman said the statement was designed purely to drum up publicity for the film.

Top church officials strongly objected to "The Da Vinci Code" because it was based on the idea that Jesus married and fathered children and depicted the conservative Catholic movement, Opus Dei, as a murderous cult.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_VATICAN_ANGELS__DEMONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-05-06-15-27-22

Faster-paced "Da Vinci Code" sequel premieres in Rome

The movie sequel to "The Da Vinci Code" is being greeted as a faster-paced, more gripping film than the original and is respectful to Catholics, director Ron Howard said at its Rome premiere on Monday.

"Angels & Demons," a film adaptation of the novel by Dan Brown, sees symbologist Robert Langdon return to the big screen to try to help the Vatican rescue kidnapped cardinals who are being killed on the hour.

He also must stop a ticking time bomb by tracking down clues linked to a centuries-old secret society called the Illuminati.

"Everyone is telling me that they find this movie to be more entertaining, more exciting, more engrossing," Howard told Reuters on the red carpet.

Brown told a news conference ahead of the premiere that his novel "Angels & Demons" was an easier fit to cinema "and this difference really shows through in this movie."

Howard's adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code" was a commercial success, earning $750 million, but it was panned by critics and offended some Catholics. Trade publication Variety called it "stodgy" and "grim."

Tom Hanks told Reuters the pace of the new movie was "bang, bang. There's no time for anything."

"It really gallops at quite a pace," he said.

He joked that also meant no love scenes with the movie's leading woman, a physicist played by actress Ayelet Zurer, who accompanies Langdon on his search through Rome and the Vatican.

"We really don't have time to make out or go to bed when cardinals are being killed on the hour," Hanks said at the weekend news conference.

"We tried to work it into screenplay over and over again. Is there a hotel the cardinals can be held in? Isn't there a bigger car, with a bigger back seat?"

Zurer agreed, telling Reuters "you really can't sneak a love scene in the back of a car seat while you chase a murderer."

VATICAN REACTION

Howard has accused the Vatican of trying to hamper his filming in Rome of "Angels & Demons," which had to recreate scenes of the Vatican and some Rome churches in Los Angeles.

He has also blamed the Vatican for using its influence to get an event tied to the movie's Rome premiere canceled.

"They certainly didn't want to cooperate with (the movie)," Howard said.

"The Da Vinci Code" upset the Vatican and some Catholics because of its storyline, in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal bloodline that Church officials kept secret for centuries.

Christianity teaches that Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead.

But "Angels & Demons" does not raise questions about Jesus Christ. Howard said that was one possible reason why the Church has so far avoided the kind of open confrontation that characterized its reaction to "The Da Vinci Code."

"The hot-button issues of 'The Da Vinci Code' spoke to some of the really fundamental principles of the faith. I think it was much more provocative," Howard said.

Vatican observers say the Church also appeared eager to avoid giving publicity to the movie by reacting to it.

"I hope the movie is very respectful to people of faith and we went out of our way to make sure that there are characters that make very valid arguments for all the good that the Church also accomplishes," Howard said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5436WX20090504?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Catholics attack Dan Brown film Angels and Demons

The storyline for Angels & Demons, which stars Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor, centres on a plot by the Illuminati, a secrety society of intellectuals, who are intent on gaining revenge for a brutal massacre of their predecessors by the Church centuries ago. Although the society once existed, there is no historical evidence that its members were butchered by Catholics.

The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Bishop of Nottingham, warned that the film could stir up anti-Catholic sentiment."This is so outlandish, it's total rubbish," said Bishop McMahon, who is one of the Church's most senior bishops. "It's mischievous to stir up this kind of anti-Catholic sentiment. It's a gratuitous knocking of the Church and I can't see any reason for it."

Ron Howard, the director of Angels & Demons - expected to become the first blockbuster film of the summer when it is released this month - has fired back that Catholics will enjoy the movie, which is based on a previous novel by The Da Vinci Code's author, Dan Brown.

His comments will intensify a feud between some prominent Catholic leaders and the Da Vinci Code team over claims that the film smears the Church.

The bishop, who chairs the Church's Department of Evangelisation and Catechesis, said that Catholics were "getting tired" of the sensational stories and plotlines contained in Brown's novels and subsequent film adaptations. "I don't think that Catholics will be interested in seeing this as it's so far removed from the truth," he added.

Brown's book includes a number of other episodes guaranteed to upset the faithful - including a Pope conceiving a child via artificial insemination, thereby circumventing celibacy rules. Sony Pictures has declined to say whether those incidents make it to the movie.

Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the US, accused Howard and Brown of "smearing the Catholic church with fabulously bogus tales".

The frenetically outlandish plot of Angels & Demons centres on a race against time by Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) to thwart a plot by the Illuminati to blow up the cradle of Catholicism with an anti-matter bomb during the conclave to elect a new pope.

But Mr Donahue is exasperated by the way that he says Brown and Howard blend fact, fiction and conspiracy theory.

"I have never dealt with two more disengenous people," he told The Daily Telegraph. "They wouldn't dare treat any other religion like this."

Howard responded in forthright fashion, "Let me be clear: neither I nor Angels & Demons are anti-Catholic. And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is - an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome."

The Vatican, which was predictably offended by the Da Vinci Code plot that involved Jesus fathering a child with Mary Magdalene, did not allow Howard to film in its churches or property. "Normally we read the script," a Vatican spokesman said. "But this time it was not necessary - the name Dan Brown was enough."

There has also been high-level discussion within the Holy See about whether to urge a boycott of the film, according to Italian media reports. It took that step with The Da Vinci Code, but the film enjoyed staggering box office takings of $758 million and some Vatican insiders fear their high-profile opposition backfired.

"Let's be careful not to play their game... by giving them free publicity," said Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, the Vatican economics minister, who still made clear his derision for the book as a "manipulation in anti-Christian key of people, events and history".

But Sony Pictures is not backing away from the controversy and will stage the film's world premier on the Vatican's doorstep in Rome on May 4, 10 days before it opens in British cinemas.

"We do not believe the film is anti-Catholic, and we don't believe the nearly 40 million people worldwide who purchased the novel were confused by the fact that this is a fictional mystery thriller," said Steve Elzer, the studio's senior vice-president.

Jack Valero, a spokesman for Opus Dei UK, which is portrayed as a secretive, all-powerful sect in the Da Vinci Code, criticised the new film's central plot.

"It's bizarre and a total fabrication," he said. "I find it offensive, as will other Catholics, but I'm not going to bother spending too much time thinking about it."

But he found some agreement with Sony Pictures. "If anything, this will give us a chance to talk about the Catholic Church and the real things which happen within it," he said.

The furore can be doing no harm to the prospects for Brown's eagerly-awaited follow up The Da Vinci Code. His publishers announced this month that the first print run for the September launch of The Lost Symbol will be five million copies - arguably a modest initial total for a sequel to the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time, with 81 million copies in print worldwide.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/5262555/Catholics-attack-Dan-Brown-film-Angels-and-Demons.html

"Angels & Demons" set for glitzy Rome premiere

After exposing a Church cover-up in "The Da Vinci Code," symbologist Robert Langdon returns to the big screen as an unlikely Vatican ally in the latest movie adaptation of a novel by author Dan Brown.

"Angels & Demons," again starring Tom Hanks as Langdon and directed by Ron Howard, premieres in Rome Monday at a theater a mile away from Vatican City.

In the film, Langdon is recruited by the Vatican after the pope dies and four cardinals who are favorites to succeed him are kidnapped.

Langdon races through the "Eternal City" deciphering clues linked to a centuries-old secret society, the Illuminati.

"He is not the man the Vatican trusts -- he is the man the Vatican needs," Howard said in production notes for the movie.

Ewan McGregor plays the central role of the "Camerlengo," or chamberlain, who runs the Vatican between the time of the pope's death and the election of his successor.

"He sees himself as a man who will do whatever it takes to save the Church from the Illuminati and everything they represent," McGregor said.

The film hits theatres in the United States on May 15.

VATICAN STAYING QUIET

Angels & Demons has so far avoided the kind of broadside the Vatican aimed at The Da Vinci Code film in 2005 and 2006 and the following year at "The Golden Compass" starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

"Dramatizing the issue involuntarily gives publicity to Angels & Demons," said Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, in an interview with Italy's La Stampa newspaper.

"Be careful not to play their game."

The Da Vinci Code upset the Vatican and some Catholics because of its storyline, in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal bloodline that Church officials kept secret for centuries.

Christians are taught that Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead.

Despite the controversy, and a critical mauling at the Cannes film festival where it was launched, The Da Vinci Code went on to gross more than $750 million worldwide, supporting the theory that no publicity is bad publicity.

However, the Rome archdiocese did refuse Angels & Demons the right to shoot in historic churches, forcing the crew to recreate them in Los Angeles.

And in the United States, Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, accused Brown and Howard of "smearing the Catholic Church with fabulously bogus tales."

Howard responded by saying that neither he nor his new movie were anti-Catholic.

"And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is: an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome," Howard wrote in a post on The Huffington Post website.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5401TA20090501?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Director Ron Howard defends "Angels & Demons"

Director Ron Howard on Tuesday defended his film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons" from criticism that it smears the Roman Catholic Church, heightening an ongoing battle over fictional depictions of the Vatican.

Howard, who also directed the 2006 movie adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code," posted a blog at The Huffington Post website saying that neither he nor his new movie "Angels & Demons," which debuts in May and stars Tom Hanks, are anti-Catholic.

"And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is: an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome," Howard wrote.

Howard's post came in response to an opinion piece in the New York Daily News by Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, last week. Donahue accused Brown and Howard of "smearing the Catholic Church with fabulously bogus tales."

Last year, the Catholic Church refused to let "Angels & Demons" be filmed in churches in Rome because of the Vatican's outrage over "The Da Vinci Code."

Howard's drama "Frost/Nixon" was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards this year, but lost to "Slumdog Millionaire." His other films include "A Beautiful Mind," which won the best picture Oscar and best directing Oscar for 2001, as well as 1995's "Apollo 13."

Brown this week announced that his follow-up novel to "The Da Vinci Code" will be released in September and is titled "The Lost Symbol."

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE53L04020090422

Vatican expresses disapproval of "Angels & Demons"

The Vatican might be gearing up for an official call for a boycott of "Angels & Demons," Ron Howard's big-budget follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code."

Avvenire, the Vatican's official newspaper, ran a story in Friday's edition noting that the Church "cannot approve" of such a problematic film. The Turin daily La Stampa, meanwhile, said the Vatican would soon call for a boycott of the film, though the same article also quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, who warned against a "boomerang effect" that could call attention to the film and eventually make it more popular.

The Vatican press office declined comment on the reports when contacted.

Producers requested permission from Church officials to film parts of "Angels & Demons" in the Vatican, but were denied.

Scores of Church officials called for a boycott of "The Da Vinci Code" when it was released in 2006, but that had little effect on the popularity of the thriller, which is based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown. The film earned an estimated $760 million in worldwide box-office receipts.

"Angels & Demons" features many of the same characters as "The Da Vinci Code," but the story itself takes place before the events portrayed in the earlier film. The film is set to open worldwide May 15.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE52K0N420090321