On June 5th, production began on Angels and Demons, the sequel (wait, wasn't the book a prequel?) to tepid religious mystery/global mega-hit The Da Vinci Code.

On June 9th, Jessica Barnes brought to our attention a couple of photos from said shoot.

And as of June 16th, the Vatican has formally denied the long-awaited request on behalf of the filmmakers to film crucial scenes within the critical churches of Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria.

According to Variety, the proper permits require cooperation between the Italian government and the Vatican. However, since "the film pursues a type of fantasy that damages common religious sentiment," they were not approved. The production has already relocated to near Naples in an effort to double the needed interior shots, and the film is still scheduled to open on May 15, 2009.

Tom Hanks' hair could not be reached for comment at the time of this post.

Even the most enthusiastic devotee of big-budget Hollywood is bound to have a few movies which he trudges to see out of a sense of duty rather than excitement. For me it's (among other things) Ron Howard's Da Vinci Code franchise, based on the borderline illiterate but ultra-popular books by Dan Brown. It is out of that same sense of obligation that I report to you the impending recruitment of Ewan McGregor to star alongside Tom Hanks in Angels & Demons, the prequel to the first film. McGregor will play Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca, a Papal aide who helps Hanks's intrepid symbologist stop an attack on the Vatican. As we suspected yesterday, Munich's Ayelet Zurer is also on board to play Vittoria Vetra, the daughter of a murdered physicist who tags along with the hero scientist. (This is contrary to earlier reports that Naomi Watts had scored the part.)

The main reason I have little hope for Angels & Demons is that, as with the first film, the screenplay will be written by Akiva Goldsman, who may be my least favorite working screenwriter. Ewan McGregor is a splendid actor, but Goldsman's dull, leaden dialogue managed to defeat even Sir Ian McKellen. As The Da Vinci Code proved, Goldsman and Brown are one deadly combination.

We've got a ways to go: Angels & Demons comes out next May. I think I'll go back to not thinking about it now, if you don't mind.

One day until hump day! News bites for your Tuesday:

• One would think that after the success of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi would stay focused on feature films. However, The Hollywood Reporter has posted that the filmmaker is teaming up with Disney/ABC to produce a new, live-action weekly series called Wizard's First Rule -- to get off the ground this fall. The show is based on Terry Goodkind's fantasy series The Sword of Truth, and "follows the extraordinary transformation of woodsman Richard Cypher into a magical leader who joins with a mysterious woman to stop a bloodthirsty tyrant." Production will begin this May.
• In the doc world, Variety reports that Liberation Entertainment and Netflix's Red Envelope have nabbed distribution deals for the soccer documentary Kicking It -- which is narrated by bad-boy Colin Farrell. (This is in addition to the ESPN deal from Sundance.) The doc focuses on "the personal struggles and triumphs of seven soccer players from six countries who participate in the 4th annual Homeless World Cup." The plan is to have a day-and-date release between the ESPN premiere, DVD rentals and computer downloads on Netflix, and DVD sales.
• Finally, I bet those rabid and weary Da Vinci Code fans from 2 Days in Paris would get a kick out of this. According to the BBC, paintings and statues from Lincoln Cathedral, which was dressed to be Westminster Abbey, are on the auction block to raise money for the building. The light, polystyrene pieces were part of an exhibition since the film crews left the location, but will now be sold off in a series of sealed bids through March 31.

The end of the box office "slump of '05" and an overall increase in domestic gross over last year should make some U.S. theatre owners happy. However, the studios are more likely to be smiling because of the international grosses. 2006 was a record year for exported movies from Hollywood, and this will probably result in more franchises, sequels and other mainstream fare.

These tentpoles keep Hollywood alive these days, and the studios depend on and cater to worldwide audiences rather than Americans. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that for the sake of the profit, we'll be seeing more movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and The Da Vinci Code, both of which performed incredibly at home and overseas despite critical pans. Quoted in Variety, Buena Vista International's Anthony Marcoly confirmed this by saying the current strategy is to produce big movies with wide appeal that will over-perform in the international markets.

Okay, so what else is new, right? Well, there are a few noteworthy things to point out, such as the rising market share for smaller distributors. Focus Features and Lionsgate had spectacular years thanks to Brokeback Mountain and Saw II and III, respectively. The former proves the international box office isn't completely epics and other big-budget entertainments. On a sad note, though, Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties also did very well.

Sony Pictures announced Thursday that for the first time, they will exceed $3 billion in worldwide ticket sales this year. This isn't any kind of record, though; other studios have surpassed the $3 billion mark before (three times before, in fact), but it's still good news for Sony -- and it is only one aspect of their amazing year at the box office. Their domestic take for 2006 is expected to pass the industry record of $1.573 million, an amount and record they reached back in 2002, for any studio in a single year. Another industry record they've already broken this year is for the number of releases to open at #1. So far, this number is 12, but Sony still has two more titles (The Holiday and The Pursuit of Happyness) to release before the year ends.

For the third time in the past five years, Sony will likely finish out the year with the greatest domestic market share for box office gross. The major contributor to Sony's success in 2006 was The Da Vinci Code, which had an international gross of more than $750 million. Other titles that helped out include Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Casino Royale and, surprisingly, The Pink Panther (hey, that's two remakes that originally starred Peter Sellers!).

Overall 2006 has been a seemingly good year for the motion picture industry, especially considering all the commotion last year over the "Great 'Slump' of '05". And yet, according to Box Office Mojo the total domestic gross for all movies in 2006 is right now $500 million less than the total of 2005 -- though some reports say that this year is up 4% over last year (not a big deal since '05 was down 6% from '04). Thankfully, B.O.M. has a handy YTD comparison, so we can actually see how 2006 stands so far against the same point in years '02 thru '05, and comparatively we're experiencing maybe only the third best year in five. We still have a few weeks left until the year closes, and a lot of movies are coming out in those few weeks, so the final tally could possibly outdo 2004's or 2003's grosses, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Recent Theatricals

Accepted -- Quick and painless late-teen college about a bunch of slackers who fabricate an entire university before things get nutty. Not awful, but not all that funny either (Extras: director/cast commentary, featurettes, music videos, deleted scenes, gag reel, etc.)

Brothers of the Head -- The creators of Lost in La Mancha go the mockumentary route with this story of conjoined-twin rock stars. Yeah, you heard me.

John Tucker Must Die -- Teen movies must stop: A bunch of girls get revenge on the campus womanizer. How nice. (Director's commentary, featurettes)

King Kong: Extended Edition -- Because Peter Jackson's remake wasn't already long enough, they added another 13 minutes back in. (Filmmaker commentary, 3-hour documentary, 38 MORE minutes of deleted scenes.) OK, I want this.

The Da Vinci Code -- Admit it; you were bored by it. (Ten featurettes.)

Catalog Picks

Forbidden Planet: Special Edition -- The classic sci-fi grand-daddy (which was based on The Tempest, dontchaknow) gets re-issued in a normal SE and a swanky LE that comes with a Robby the Robot toy! (Documentaries, deleted scenes, lost footage, random fun.)

The Green Mile: Special Edition -- Frank Darabont's second Stephen King adaptation (after The Shawshank Redemption) pales in comparison to the first, but the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Mike Duncan is still pretty effective. (Director commentary, deleted scenes, feature-length documentary, featurettes.)

Maniac Cop -- It's about a cop -- who's a maniac. It comes from Bill Lustig (Maniac) and Larry Cohen (The Stuff), plus it stars Tom Atkins, Richard Roundtree and Bruce Campbell. Not saying it's a good flick, but if you know these names you'll have fun with Maniac Cop. (Filmmaker commentary, featurette, interviews.)

Direct-to-Video

Raptor Island -- I've never seen it, but it stars Lorenzo Lamas & Stephen Bauer, was written by the guy who did Megalodon, and is about an island full of velociratpors. See it quick, before Raptor Island 2: Raptor Planet hits the Sci-Fi Channel!

Strangers With Candy -- Apparently it's got some kind of cult fanbase. I'll have to give SWC a whirl sometime, but everyone tells me to start with the series first. (Filmmaker commentary, 18 deleted scenes.)

The Motion Picture Association (that's the international version of the MPAA) is reporting that, because of piracy in China, the worldwide film industry lost a whopping $2.7 billion in 2005. This total primarily includes losses suffered by the country's own productions (about $1.5 billion) and those of Hollywood studios ($565 million). For the study, the MPA brought in LEK Consulting, who have calculated that 93% of China's movie sales are of pirated material, whether in the format of bootleg DVDs (accounting for $1.63 billion) or illegal downloads ($1.04 billion). In 2003, the MPA had conducted its own study, which showed only a $178 million loss.

Wow! And to think how much I've scoffed at the MPAA's whining about domestic piracy. I can't imagine what the entertainment industry in America would do if faced with less than one out of every 10 people in the U.S. purchasing movies legally. Of course, Hollywood is losing a lot less than China's local filmmakers, but ever when you consider that only twenty foreign films are even released in China per year, it's a pretty substantial problem for American studios. No wonder The Da Vinci Code was pulled. Everyone probably owns a copy of it already.

While people around the world are protesting and boycotting and continuing attempts to ban the controversial film The Da Vinci Code, it turns out that all they need in order to cancel its exhibition is a stick of chewing gum. That is what shut down screenings at a theater in Princeton, Kentucky last weekend, anyway. A piece of gum somehow -- presumably thrown -- got onto the take-up platter (a giant disc where the film goes after being projected) of a projector running the film and caused a big, sticky mess, halting the film's run from Saturday afternoon through Monday. Only the print of the film was damaged, and the theater was able to (and had to) run RV until they received a new print of The Da Vinci Code on Tuesday.

Although the theater is not looking to investigate the supposed act of vandalism, its owner says that if the guilty party anonymously sends a couple hundred dollars, that all will be forgiven. And he announced that from now on, the projection booth will be locked.

When you read this headline, you probably rolled your eyes at the thought of yet another poorly thought-out and rushed-through production video game tie-in for a movie blockbuster. In fact, I did the same thing when I first heard the news. However, it turns out these games are in fact NOT of the electronic "video" variety, but rather the more classic and less popular "board" variety. Not only is there an official Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code: The Board Game: The Quest for Truth headed to a store near you, there are apparently a number of look-alikes hoping to cash in on some of that sweet controversy action. Briarpatch, for one, is bringing you Da Vinci's Challenge, Da Vinci's Challenge: The Card Game (playable as both a standalone as well as an addition to the board game) and Da Vinci Mancala -- I'm not actually sure how this one works, per se. Presumably it is just Mancala with some fancy pictures added in somewhere. Also being published are two other board games named The Da Vinci Code Board Game and The Da Vinci Quest. A few of these have vague licensing associations with the novel, but only The Quest for Truth has official movie tie-ins.

Okay, I'm a big board game fan. Both my families (mine and my fiancee's) enjoy them, and so I get to play quite a bit.  My question is really ... who believes the board game market is deep enough to support this many games based on an action movie/book? Sure, maybe an official game or two could be fun-ish, but do we really need or want a Da Vinci mancala? Somehow I'm just not seeing the draw ... but maybe it's just me.

In honor of The Da Vinci Code debut, Susan King of the LA Times makes a list of several movie adaptations of bestselling novels that were hits with audiences and critics alike. I never knew that The Exorcist and Jaws were bestselling books before they were movies -- it's hard to imagine Jaws at all without the wonderfully suspenseful score by John Williams. And like The Da Vinci Code, Rosemary's Baby had to endure some naysayers to the film in the form of the Roman Catholic Church's Legion of Decency who cited the "perverted use which the film makes of fundamental Christian beliefs and its mockery of religious persons and practices." At least Roman Polanski's film had a dark sense of humor running throughout a tale filled with blood, potions, anagrams and nightmare assailants. I imagine The Da Vinci Code will be much more ponderous . . .  after all, there's no Ruth Gordon.