HOWARD FLIES FAST WITH 'ANGELS & DEMONS' (VAR)

By Nancy Vialatte

With Hollywood scrambling to close deals before the October 31 WGA contract expiration, Variety notes that one fast-tracked project has almost flown under the radar. Ron Howard�s �Angels & Demons,� the sequel to 2006�s �The Da Vinci Code,� has been formalized for a February start in Europe and a December 2008 release date.

Producers Brian Grazer and John Calley along with Columbia, Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman are angling to finalize the shooting script before next week's deadline. Casting has also begun with Tom Hanks already in to reprise his role as Robert Langdon.

The film guarantees a manic year for Howard, who will be multi-tasking to get the picture done. Howard will shoot "Angels & Demons" as he supervises editing and post-production on the screen adaptation of the Peter Morgan play "Frost/Nixon." That film, which Howard wrapped shooting last week, has tentatively been slotted for a late 2008 release.

This could land Howard with a two-headed post-production schedule and two high-profile projects opening in a relatively short time.

The schedule echoes Steven Spielberg's back-to-back shooting of "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List" and Clint Eastwood's double duty on "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" last year.

Hanks' character this time sleuths a mystery that involves a secret society and a conspiracy that leads to Vatican City and threatens the future of the Catholic Church.

Dan Brown wrote "Angels & Demons" prior to "The Da Vinci Code," but after the first film grossed $218 million domestic and $758 million worldwide, the studio made a seven-figure deal with Goldsman to turn the earlier novel into a sequel.