Robert Langdon (film series)

The Robert Langdon films (or Robert series) are a series of American action-adventure mystery-thriller films directed by Ron Howard. The films, based on the novel series written by Dan Brown, center around the fictional character of Robert Langdon. Though based on the book series, the films have a different chronological order, consisting of: The Da Vinci Code (2006), Angels & Demons (2009) and Inferno (2016). Despite negative critical reception, the film series as a whole has grossed almost $1.5 billion worldwide.

Robert Langdon
Official home release artwork
Directed by	Ron Howard
Based on	Robert Langdon novels by Dan Brown
Starring	Tom Hanks (See list below)
Production company	Columbia Pictures Imagine Entertainment (See detailed list below)
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Entertainment
Release date	2006–2016
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$350 million[1]
Box office	$1,463,474,856[1]

Development

Dan Brown's novels about Professor Robert Langdon: Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003) and Inferno (2013), quickly became international bestsellers; they were soon adapted into films by Columbia Pictures with Ron Howard directing and producing.

Films

Film	U.S. release date	Director	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
The Da Vinci Code	May 19, 2006	Ron Howard	Akiva Goldsman	Brian Grazer and John Calley
Angels & Demons	May 15, 2009		Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp	Brian Grazer, John Calley and Ron Howard
Inferno	October 28, 2016		David Koepp	Brian Grazer and Ron Howard

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years, which could shake the foundations of Christianity.

Angels & Demons (2009)

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon continues to work to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican.

Inferno (2016)

When Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks, and together they must race across Europe against the clock to foil a deadly global plot.

Television

Following the worldwide successes of the first two films,[2][3] Columbia Pictures began development on a film adaptation of The Lost Symbol.[4][5] Hanks and Howard were scheduled to return as star and director, with Brian Grazer and John Calley as producers, while a script was collectively co-written by Steven Knight,[6] original author Dan Brown,[7] and Danny Strong.[8] By January 2013, the final draft of the script was near completion, with pre-production expected to start later that year.[9] However, in July Sony Pictures announced they would adapt Inferno as the next film instead.[10][11]

In June 2019, the project was announced to be re-conceived as a television series tentatively titled Langdon. The series will serve as a prequel to the film series, with Daniel Cerone serving as creator, showrunner, chief executive producer, and screenwriter. Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, Samie Falvey and Anna Culp will act as additional executive producers. The show will be a co-production between Imagine Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, and Universal Television Studios and was ordered to series on NBC.

The plot reportedly revolves around a young Robert Langdon, who is hired by the CIA to solve a number of deadly puzzles when his mentor goes missing.[12] By March 2020, Ashley Zukerman had been cast in the lead role.[13]

Cast and characters

Key

• A ^Y indicates the actor portrayed the role of a younger version of the character.

Character	Film
	The Da Vinci Code		Angels & Demons	Inferno
Professor Robert Langdon	Tom Hanks	Uncredited actor^Y	Tom Hanks
Sophie Neveu	Audrey Tautou	Garance Mazureck^Y
	Daisy Doidge-Hill^Y	Lilli Ella Kelleher^Y
Sir Leigh Teabing The Teacher	Ian McKellen
Bishop Manuel Aringarosa	Alfred Molina
Capt. Bezu Fache	Jean Reno
André Vernet	Jürgen Prochnow
Silas	Paul Bettany	Hugh Mitchell^Y
Jacques Saunière	Jean-Pierre Marielle
Remy Jean	Jean-Yves Berteloot
Father Patrick McKenna			Ewan McGregor
Dr. Vittoria Vetra			Ayelet Zurer
Cdr. Maximilian Richter			Stellan Skarsgård
Cardinal Strauss			Armin Mueller-Stahl
Lt. Chartrand			Thure Lindhardt
Dr. Sienna Brooks				Felicity Jones
Christoph Bouchard				Omar Sy
Bertrand Zobrist				Ben Foster
Elizabeth Sinskey				Sidse Babett Knudsen
Harry Sims The Provost				Irrfan Khan

Additional crew and production details

Film	Composer	Cinematographer	Editor(s)	Production companies	Distributing companies	Running time
The Da Vinci Code	Hans Zimmer	Salvatore Totino	Dan Hanley & Mike Hill	Columbia Pictures Imagine Entertainment Skylark Productions Government of Malta	Sony Pictures Releasing Columbia Pictures	2hr 28min
Angels & Demons				Columbia Pictures Imagine Entertainment Skylark Productions Panorama Film Studios		2hr 18min
Inferno			Dan Hanley & Tom Elkins	Columbia Pictures Imagine Entertainment LSG Productions LS Capital Film Corporation Mid Atlantic Films		2hr 1min

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Box office gross				Box office ranking		Budget	Ref(s)
	Opening weekend (North America)	North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
The Da Vinci Code	$77,073,388	$217,536,138	$540,703,713	$758,239,851	#146	#71	$125 million	[14]
Angels & Demons	$46,204,168	$133,375,846	$352,554,970	$485,930,816	#390	#170	$150 million	[15]
Inferno	$14,860,425	$34,343,574	$185,677,685	$220,021,259	#2,244	#586	$75 million	[16]
	Total	$385,255,558	$1,078,936,368	$1,464,191,926			$350 million	[1]

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
The Da Vinci Code	24% (225 reviews)[17]	46 (40 reviews)[18]	B+[19]
Angels & Demons	37% (255 reviews)[20]	48 (36 reviews)[21]	B+[19]
Inferno	23% (238 reviews)[22]	42 (47 reviews)[23]	B+[19]

Difference between novels and films

The Da Vinci Code

• In the film, Sophie is the last of Jesus' bloodline, Jacques Saunière is not her actual grandfather. In the novel, Saunière is Sophie's grandfather and she has a surviving brother who is also part of the bloodline
• In the novel, there are two cryptexes, one (white and large) from Saunière's bank locker and another (black and smaller) from the larger cryptex.
• Sophie is a love interest for Langdon in the novel while there is no attraction present in the film.

Angels & Demons

There are many differences between the novel and the film.[24]

• In the novel, the papal conclave attracts relatively little public attention. In the wake of the huge international interest in the 2005 election of Pope Benedict XVI, this was judged to be out of date.[25]
• The character of CERN Director Maximillian Kohler does not appear in the film.
• The Italian Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is changed to the Irish Patrick McKenna, portrayed by Ewan McGregor.
• The Boeing X-33 that takes Langdon from the United States to Geneva and then to Rome is absent in the film.
• In the novel, Commander Olivetti is the commander of Swiss Guard, and his second-in-command is Captain Rocher, whereas in the film, Richter is the head of the Swiss Guard.
• In the novel, the Assassin contacts members of the BBC in order to influence how they present the story of his activities, but this does not happen in the film.
• The character Leonardo Vetra is named Silvano Bentivoglio in the film, is not related to Vittoria and his death scene is changed.
• Vittoria is a love interest for Langdon in the novel while there is no attraction present in the film.
• In the novel, Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is revealed to be the late pope's biological son, in the film he is his adoptive son.
• In the book, the assassin has Middle Eastern looks whereas in the movie he is portrayed by a Danish actor Nikolaj Lie Kaas. In the film, he is killed by a car bomb, whereas in the book he falls from a balcony at the top of the Castel Sant'Angelo and breaks his back on a pile of marble cannonballs which eventually kills him.
• In the novel, Vittoria is kidnapped, whereas in the film, she follows Langdon almost everywhere. In the book, all four preferiti are killed by the assassin and eventually the high elector, Cardinal Saverio Mortati, is elected as the new pope whereas in the film, the fourth preferito, Cardinal Baggia, is saved by Langdon and is elected the new pope. The high elector, renamed Cardinal Strauss, becomes the Camerlengo to the new pope.
• In the end, the new Camerlengo hands over Galileo's book to Langdon instead of a Swiss Guard handing the 5th brand, the Illuminati diamond (which is also different in the movie and looks like two crossed keys). In the movie before the explosion Langdon doesn't get on the helicopter unlike in the book where he does and right before the explosion jumps out, barely surviving.

Inferno

• In the novel, the Inferno Virus causes sterility in one third of the human population. At the end of the novel it is revealed that the virus was released before the events of the book, as the date given in the video was when the virus would be worldwide, thus searching for its whereabouts was futile. In the film, the virus was projected to kill one half of the human population but was contained by Sinskey and the WHO.
• In the novel, Dr. Sienna Brooks intends to prevent the virus from being released and to destroy it as she believes Governments and other organisations will use it as a weapon and at the end of the novel she is offered a position in the WHO in order to address the crisis.
• In the novel, Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey is not a former romantic interest of Robert Langdon.
• In the novel, Sienna Brooks has blonde hair that is actually a wig whereas in the film, she has long, black hair.

References

1. "Robert Langdon". Box Office Mojo. November 13, 2016.
2. "The Da Vinci Code". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
3. "Angels & Demons". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
4. Fleming, Michael (2009-04-20). "Columbia moves on 'Symbol'". Variety.com. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
5. "The Mystery of Dan Brown". The Guardian. London. September 2009. Retrieved September 22, 2009.
6. Siegel, Tatiana (February 3, 2010). "Columbia finds 'Symbol'; Knight to adapt third book in 'Da Vinci Code' series". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
7. Fernandez, Jay A.; Kit, Borys (2010-12-20). "EXCLUSIVE: Dan Brown Taking Over 'Lost Symbol' Screenplay". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved 2015-11-21.
8. Williams, Owen (March 2, 2012). "New Writer For The Lost Symbol: Dan Brown 3 gets an overhaul". Empire
9. Nicole Sperling (January 15, 2013). "Dan Brown: What's the film status of his book 'The Lost Symbol'?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
10. Tom Hanks' 'Inferno' Shifts Opening to 2016
11. "Tom Hanks And Ron Howard To Return For Next Dan Brown Movie 'Inferno'; Sony Sets December 2015 Release Date". Deadline Hollywood. July 16, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
12. https://deadline.com/2019/06/robert-langdon-drama-dan-brown-the-lost-symbol-nbc-imagine-tv-studios-1202627753/
13. https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/robert-langdon-nbc-pilot-ashley-zukerman-1203520978/
14. "The Da Vinci Code". Box Office Mojo. October 22, 2016.
15. "Angels & Demons". Box Office Mojo. October 22, 2016.
16. "Inferno". Box Office Mojo. November 13, 2016.
17. "The Da Vinci Code". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
18. "The Da Vinci Code". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
19. "Cinemascore". Cinemascore.com. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
20. "Angels & Demons". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
21. "Angels & Demons". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
22. "Inferno". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
23. "Inferno". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
24. "What's the Difference between Angels and Demons the Book and Angels and Demons the Movie". thatwasnotinthebook.com. Retrieved 18 Oct 2013.
25. Hanks, Tom; interviewed by Charlie Rose (May 13, 2009). "A conversation about the film "Angels and Demons"". PBS television (transcript). Archived from the original on May 17, 2009. Retrieved June 12, 2009.

External links