"Angels and Demons" to be on the big screen

Los Angeles (SF) - After the great success and expectation around the movie "The Da Vinci Code", Sony Pictures announced it will make the adaptation of the first Dan Brown novel "Angels and Demons".

Following the worldwide opening of the film, which put it on the first place in the Box Office, the company decided to sign "The Da Vinci Code" screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman, to do the adapting work. Producers Brian Gazer and John Calley also joined the project.

"Angels and Demons" is the first religious thriller where Harvard professor Robert Langdon makes an appearance, this time helping to uncover the threatening of the Vatican by an ancient society, the Illuminati.

Oscar winning director, Ron Howard, and actor Tom Hanks, have for the moment refused to be part of this upcoming film.

India delays The Da Vinci Code release

New Delhi (SF) - With less than a week to go till its world premier, The Da Vinci Code faces new troubles with catholic groups. For one part the Indian government announced that the release of the film will be delayed, due to more than 200 complaints that were received by Information and Broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi.

Dasmunshi, who asked for a special screening of the moving in order to analyze it, said that it could be delayed by a day or two. "We are a secular country. On any sensitive issue, we should take action after we examine every aspect. We have to be careful," he said.

The head of the Catholic secular forum, Joseph Dias, is currently in a hunger strike for the government's decision to show the movie, and affirmed he will be joined by some more people: "We want the movie to be banned. The movie should not be shown in India."

In another country, Thailand, the Film Censorship board decided to cut the last ten minutes of the movie, agreeing with some catholic churches. "The committee also agrees that the movie should have a message before opening credit that the movie was produced from a fiction, not a real story," stated Chavana Mahitchartkul, member of the Board, to local newspaper The Nation.

Hanks is the $100 million actor

Los Ángeles (SF) - American Actor Tom Hanks won the title of Actor with the most consecutive $100 million grossing movies, in the Guinness Book of World Records, having seven movies in top places of the box offices chart in a row. This was announced by the book's editors this week.

The two times Oscar winner has a total of fourteen $100 million grossing movies in his career, and shares his appearance in the book of world records with fellow actors as Marlon Brando Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson.

The seven movies that gave him this place in the World Records are: Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail, Toy Story 2, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Road to Perdition and Catch me if you Can. If it wasn't for The Ladykillers and The Terminal, which earned $39.9 million and 77.9 million respectively, he would have set another record of 10 consecutive movies with his last hit, The Polar Express.

On May 19 will be the premiere of Hanks' new movie, The Da Vinci Code, which is already set to be in the first places of the box office and another hit in the actors' successful career.

Warner will allow downloads of films and TV shows

Hollywood (SF) - The company Warner Bros. will be the first to use Internet to distribute its movies and TV series using the technology of BitTorrent Inc., which developed a popular tool used to download and share pirate copies of box office films.

Warner will try to use the massive use of the tool and the speed it has to spread hit movies, that are not available even on DVD. The two companies said that by next summer the system will be working, but didn't mention standard prices of the products, although they said some TV shows could cost 1 dollar and movies will cost as much as a DVD.

The president of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, Kevin Tsujihara, said: "If we can convert 5, 10, 15 percent of the peer-to-peer users that have been obtaining our product from illegitimate sources to becoming legitimate buyers of our product, that has the potential of a huge impact on our industry and our economics."

BitTorrent Inc. will remove all the illegal copies of movies and TV shows from the Internet and the links to other sites that allow piracy. Warner Bros. meanwhile, will sell films and TV series that can be burnt onto a backup CD, but they can only be played again on the computer used to download the content.

Disappointing opening for Mission Impossible

Hollywood (SF) - The third installment of the "Mission Impossible" saga, had disappointing box office results on its first weekend. Although the movie debuted in first place with 48.025 million dollars, industry experts expected at least 10 million dollars more, to equal the second part of the franchise.

"Mission Impossible II" debuted with 57.800 million dollars, in 2000, and the last Tom Cruise hit, "War or the worlds" opened with $64.9 million on last year's fourth of July weekend.

"Expectations were really high for this film. I think it's a good number, but people were obviously expecting better numbers. There's a lot to be said for how a star's public persona can affect a movie's box office." said the president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, Paul Dergarabedian, to Associated Press.

Mission Impossible III, directed by J.J. Abrams, creator of TV hits "Alias" and "Lost", apparently has been affected by Cruise's personal life, from his public romance with actress Katie Holmes to his constant criticizing of fellow actors based on his Scientology practices.

"Commander in Chief" awarded for its first US woman president

United Nations (SF) - American actress Geena Davis, received an EPIC (Enhancing Perceptions in Culture) award from The White House Project, a non-governmental organization which main objective is to have a woman occupy the top position in the United States, for her portrayal of the first female president of that nation in the TV series "Commander in Chief".

During the act, that took place in the United Nations Delegates Dining Room, Davis was given a red, white and blue sash, like the one worn by the first woman president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, during her positioning ceremony.

"So many countries have had a female head of state before us, so it is certainly time. I think it's appalling that we haven't yet. The crime is not that it's taken so long, but why haven't we done it yet?", she said to the 500 guests at the ceremony.

The series creator, Rod Lurie, also received an EPIC award, and said: "Females represent 51 percent of the country and it's absurd that they're not represented in the highest level of power, and not even given that opportunity. There's a lot of firepower in the world ladies and gentlemen. There's lots of it, but there's no weapon as powerful as an idea whose time has come."

The president of the White House Project, Marie Wilson, affirmed this awards recognize the power of the media and the popular culture, and thanked Davis and Luries for their work on the series.

Pacino to join Ocean's cast

Hollywood (SF) - Actor Al Pacino will join the cast of the upcoming film Ocean's Thirteen, second sequel of the 2001 success Ocean's Eleven. The movie will be released in the summer of 2007.

The Oscar winning actor, will share the screen with some of the cast of the previous installments, including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Andy García, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Elliot Gould, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac and Carl Reiner. Actresses Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones are not part of this project, so Ellen Barkin will be the new leading lady.

A Warner Bros. spokeswoman revealed that Pacino will play the part of Willie Banks, a Las Vegas hotel and casino owner. This casino has been constructed at the WB studios in Burbank, California, and will be ready by July 21st, when the filming is scheduled to start.

The first two installments were shot in the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas and in some locations in Europe, respectively.