Sony Pictures has officially set a February 2008 start date for production on Angels & Demons, the Da Vinci Code sequel, which is slated to hit theaters in December 2008.

The quick decision is one of the biggest to transpire amid Hollywood’s current deal-making frenzy due to the looming writers strike.

Tom Hanks is reprising his role as religious conspiracy investigator Robert Langdon, and director Ron Howard, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, and producer Brian Grazer are all back for the second movie adapted from Dan Brown’s mystery novels. Casting is now underway.

Although The Da Vinci Code grossed a relatively disappointing $217.5 million domestically in 2006, it was a smash hit overseas where it banked a jaw-dropping $540.7 mil. Due to the success of that film, Sony greenlit Angels & Demons, whose 2000 book Brown had actually written before 2003′s The Da Vinci Code became an runaway bestseller.

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