Nikke Finke of Deadline Hollywood on the latest developments regarding the film version of Angels & Demons, the prequel — or will it be a sequel, kind of like how the old James Bond movies told Ian Fleming’s stories all out of order? — to The Da Vinci Code:
I’m told that Akiva Goldsman, who adapted Dan Brown’s worldwide bestseller into a $755.6 mil hit pic, is receiving $4 million for the Da Vinci Code sequel in the works by both Imagine Entertainment and Sony Pictures. Not only is that major moola, but agents are telling me this represents a new $$$ high for hiring a screenwriter. And, no, Goldsman isn’t getting a producer credit, so this is for straight scribbling. “That would be a lot for a pure writer’s credit,” one agent gushed. “It puts Akiva in the absolute top of his profession.” (Actually, the first rumor I heard was an astounding $6 mil, but the truth is $2 mil less than that. As for whether the deal also includes gross points, dunno.)
So, if you, like me, were hoping that the whole Da Vinci Code thing would die a quiet death, and the sequel or prequel would end up being some small little movie or even going straight to video … well, it looks like the studio is definitely thinking big, big, big.
Like, e.g., how much will they pay to bring back Tom Hanks?
UPDATE: Jeffreys Wells and Overstreet toss in their two bits.
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