Angels and Demons Boycott Planned?

Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons

ROME — The Vatican appears to be preparing for an official call for a boycott of “Angels & Demons,” Ron Howard’s big-budget follow-up to “The Da Vinci Code”

The Vatican’s official newspaper “Avvenire” recently ran a story noting that the church “cannot approve” of such a problematic film. The Turin daily La Stampa, said that the Vatican will soon call for a boycott of the film.

Producers who had earlier requested permission from church officials to film parts of “Angels & Demons” in the Vatican were denied.

However, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis warned against a “boomerang effect” that could call attention to the film and actually make it more popular than if the boycott had not occurred.

Scores of church officials called for a boycott of the movie based on Dan Brown’s previous book “Da Vinci Code” when it was released in 2006, but the calls had little effect on the popularity of the thriller, which earned about $760 million in worldwide boxoffice receipts.

“Angels & Demons” is set to open worldwide May 15 and news of the movie is being tracked on ambigram.com due to the six John Langdon ambigrams which feature prominantly in the movie.