More Lawsuits for The Da Vinci Code

Just when the folks at Sony thought the court battles were over, and that everything was full-speed ahead for the world domination spearheaded by the release of The Da Vinci Code, news comes of another lawsuit, in another country. The Christian Council of Korea, the country's largest Christian group, has filed an injunction against the film's release there, saying that it "may disparage and insult the divinity of Jesus Christ," and could also lead to confusion if viewers "believe that [the] fictional tale is historical fact."

While on the surface such a charge seems incapable of standing up in court (fictional films present their own version of reality ALL THE TIME, you can't stop them just because audiences are guillble), a similar suit was actually successful last year, when documentary footage was ordered removed from The President's Last Bang (a satirical film about the assassination of South Korean president/dictator Park Chunghee), because of concerns that viewers would be "confused" about what was real. And on the subject of religiously-themed films, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ went unreleased for years in Korea and was eventually only seen in a few theaters, due entirely to "pressure from religious groups."

Yeah. So Sony, it might be a good idea to keep those lawyers around for a little while. You know, just in case.