Even asEdward Berger’s Oscar-winning hitConclavecontinues to rule streaming charts, albeit under unfortunate circumstances, another movie set against the backdrop of the ancient Catholic ritual is climbing up the rankings. The movie in question made nearly five times as much at the box office thanConclaveback in 2009, but was hardly as acclaimed. It featured a genuine A-lister in the lead role, but remains largely forgotten. At best, it canclaim to have cultivated a cult following. The movie isAngels & Demons, the sequel to 2006’s blockbusterThe Da Vinci Code.
Both films were headlined byTom Hanks, directed byRon Howard, and based on best-selling thrillers written byDan Brown.Angels & Demonssaw Hanks' Professor Robert Langdon beingsummoned to the Vatican in the immediate aftermath of the Pope’s death. He is told thatfour Cardinals have been kidnappedby a man claiming to be a representative of a mysterious organization known as the Illuminati. The man threatens to murder the Cardinals one by one, ending with the detonation of an antimatter-powered bomb that’ll destroy the entire city of Rome. Langdon’s experience with secret societies makes him the perfect candidate to follow a series of clues, andlocate the kidnapped Cardinals before they’re killed. The plot sounds harebrained, but these movies were really popular! In fact,Angels & Demonsmade nearly $500 million worldwideagainst a reported budget of $150 million.The Da Vinci Code, on the other hand, grossed over $600 million globally three years prior.
The surge in popularity thatAngels & Demonsis witnessing can safely be attributed tothe unfortunate passing ofPope Francisrecently. Themovie found spots on the top 10 lists of Max, iTunes, and Amazon in the last few days, according toFlixPatrol. In the United States, itfinished sixth on Hulu’s viewership charts. Similar surges in interest have been observed withConclave, and also the Netflix movieThe Two Popes, which actually features Pope Francis as one of the main characters.Angels & Demons, however, is the worst-reviewed of the lot. The movie also featuredAyelet ZurerandEwan McGregor.
The Robert Langdon Trilogy Was Critically Reviled
It holds a “rotten” 36% approval rating on the aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, and a just as underwhelming 57% audience score. The consensus reads, “Angels and Demonsis a fast-paced thrill ride, and an improvement on the last Dan Brown adaptation, but the storyline too often wavers between implausible and ridiculous, and does not translate effectively to the big screen.” Hanks and Howard returned for a third film in the franchise, the worse-reviewed and less-successfulInferno, which debuted in 2016. The series was rebooted for television with Peacock’sThe Lost Symbol; the show was canceled after one season. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Angels & Demons
