An erudite literary thriller, in which the protagonist is a college professor and clues found on priceless works of art ultimately challenge the history of the Catholic church, not only becomes a worldwide bestseller but also spawns a summer blockbuster that outgrosses films with 10 times as many pyrotechnics. The scenario may sound unlikely, but it happened, thanks to author Dan Brown. His book The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 60 million copies since its publication in 2003. The film adaptation, released three years later, went on to gross $700 million dollars worldwide and became the second-most successful film in 2006.
History seems set to repeat itself in 2009. Angels & Demons, the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s prequel to The Da Vinci Code, comes out this Friday. Four months later, Dan Brown’s sequel to The Da Vinci Code entitled The Lost Symbol will hit bookshelves. Despite the fact that Brown is returning to mainstream culture in a huge way, is it even plausible that the new movie could equal the success of The Da Vinci Code?
“I don’t think the film version of Angels & Demons will sell as many tickets as The Da Vinci Code,” said Communication junior Jen D’Angelo, who hosts a weekly WNUR show that discusses new movie releases. D’Angelo added, that Angels & Demons was not as popular a book as The Da Vinci Code and so will probably be less successful.
Angels & Demon’s popularity as a novel could also ironically hinder its performance at the box office. According to Times Online, Angels & Demons has sold 39 million copies, which makes it a well-known book, even though it did not nearly match the success of The Da Vinci Code.
English Professor Nicholas Davis, who has taught various courses on cinema studies and film criticism, said he refused to see the film version of the The Da Vinci Code because he knew it would simply be a copy of the book. “[The Da Vinci Code] is one of those books that feels treated like a script,” Davis said. “It’s a novel and a menu for how the movie should be made. I was in no way interested to see how Brown’s prose would be translated to screen.” Davis said he would skip Angels & Demons for similar reasons.
Arguably The Da Vinci Code’s poor critical reception could do the most to prevent Angels & Demons from becoming a smash hit. The film’s score of 46 on Metacritic.com and rating of 6.4 on IMDB.com confirm that both critics and the public thought that The Da Vinci Code was simply mediocre. The first film’s poor reception will likely have an impact on Angels & Demon’s box office success.
Yet Angels & Demons could still be a huge hit, namely because audiences appear to crave entertainment that makes them feel intelligent. “I think there’s an audience for intellectual thrillers, and I think people will always appreciate smart movies of any genre,” D’Angelo said. “Take The Dark Knight as an example. People were pleasantly surprised by how smart it was.”
Davis also recognizes that there is a significant amount of people who enjoy intellectual entertainment, which explains how The Da Vinci Code became a best-seller. The Da Vinci Code “makes you feel smarter because it wants you to outguess [the protagonist] Robert. Because of its subject matter, people feel like they are learning about art and religion without feeling like they are at a lecture,” said Davis. “[John] Grisham and [Michael] Crichton were similar in making you learn about esoteric topics while reading a pulpy plot.” If Angels & Demons can translate that same feeling to audience members, then it may just have a chance of equaling The Da Vinci Code’s success as a film, though it may never beat The Da Vinci Code’s book sales record.
Surprisingly, Dan Brown’s poorly received writing style may also help boost ticket sales. “I cannot think of a story compelling enough that I would want Dan Brown telling it to me,” Davis said regarding Brown’s “flat-footed prose.” English professor Hyun-Jung Lee too has declared that she would rather watch the movie, where she can absorb the plot more quickly, rather than take the time to wade through Brown’s lackluster writing. “I was underwhelmed by the quality of Brown’s prose, and since movie and film versions do not seem to diverge much (at least, they did not in the case of The Da Vinci Code), I will probably stick to watching the movie versions in future for the plot elements and forego the investment of time required to finish an entire book,” Lee wrote in an e-mail.
Viewer dissatisfaction with The Da Vinci Code and the fact that Angels & Demons was published nearly a decade ago may impede Angels & Demons‘ box office success. Yet if Davis is right in his assertion that there is a built-in audience for Dan Brown — and if there are more people like Professor Lee who would prefer absorbing the plot quickly from a movie to the alternative of trudging through Brown’s prose — then this summer could see a revival in public interest in Brown. If Angels & Demons becomes the smash that The Da Vinci Code was, the summer movie season may be as dominated by intellectual thrillers as it is by big-budget sci-fi epics.