Dan Brown's Angels & Demons Halted

Da Vinci Code prequel Angels & Demons has become the first blockbuster casualty of the Writers' Guild strike. The film was scheduled go into production in February 2008, but Sony Studio bosses announced on Friday that the project, which was adapted from Dan Brown's book by Da Vinci Code screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, would be put on hold. "While the filmmakers and the studio feel the screenplay is very strong, we do not believe it is the fully-realized production draft required of this ambitious project," said Sony spokesman Steve Elzer. Tom Hanks and Ron Howard had been set to reprise their respective roles as star and director. The much anticipated movie, which was slated for a December 2008 release, is now expected to hit screens in the first quarter of 2009. In the meantime, with Tom Hanks' alter-ego Robert Langdon in shackles, who will defeat the Illuminati and their dastardly plan to blow up the Catholic Church's elite as they meet in the Vatican City to elect a new pope?