Da Vinci Code sequel set for September
The Lost Symbol, the long-delayed Dan Brown thriller featuring Robert Langdon, the protagonist from The Da Vinci Code, will be in bookstores in September.
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group announced at the London International Book Fair on Monday that Brown's first book since The Da Vinci Code was published six years ago will hit the shelves Sept. 15 with an initial English-language print run of five million copies.
It was originally scheduled to be published in 2005.
Jason Kaufman, executive editor of Doubleday, said the story unfolds over a 12-hour period and follows Harvard symbologist Langdon "through a masterful and unexpected landscape."
In a press release, the American author said he spent five years researching the book. "Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine," Brown added.
The Da Vinci Code, Brown's fourth novel, was a publishing phenomenon with 81 million hardcover copies in print. The British paperback edition spent more than two years in the Sunday Times Top 10 bestsellers' list, with 68 weeks in the top place, and is Britain's bestselling paperback novel to date. It has been translated into 51 languages.
It also took some heat for its portrayal of the Catholic Church and its license with facts.
After The Da Vinci Code's publication, Brown's earlier novels Angels and Demons, Deception Point and Digital Fortress went on to become international bestsellers.
The 2006 film, The Da Vinci Code, starring Tom Hanks, was a No. 1 box office hit, with receipts of $758 million US. Columbia Pictures will release Angels and Demons on May 15.
New Releases, April 21: Depeche Mode, Jane's Addiction, Pet Shop Boys, Ron White, Black Label Society, more
Depeche Mode "Sounds of the Universe" (Mute)
The legendary British modern-rock troupe is set to unveil its 12th studio album. The 13-track set was produced by Ben Hiller, who also helmed the band's 2005 release, "Playing the Angel."
The first single from "Sounds of the Universe" is the track "Wrong," which was released to radio early last month.
These new-wave pioneers will support the album with a worldwide trek dubbed "Tour of the Universe." The North American portion of the journey is set to begin July 24 in Toronto and will include a stop at Chicago's mammoth Lollapalooza festival, which runs Aug. 7-9.
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Jane's Addiction "Cabinet of Curiosities" (Rhino)
The newly reunited alt-rock icons are ready to treat its fans to a "Cabinet of Curiosities." This box-set includes three CDs and a DVD, bundled together in a case that--quite appropriately--resembles a wooden cabinet.
The first CD features unreleased demos recorded from 1986-87. The second disc also includes demos, as well as previously unreleased live tracks and covers of songs originally recorded by the Grateful Dead, The Stooges and Led Zeppelin, among others. Also featured on the second disc is a live mash-up of sorts called "Bobhouse," that features the lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" over the music from Bauhaus' "Burning From the Inside." The third CD in the set features a live show recorded in December of 1990.
Having kick-started its reunion at the invite-only Playboy Party held during last month's South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, Jane's Addiction is now set to spend May and June on the road. The tour, a co-headlining jaunt with Nine Inch Nails, will begin May 8 in West Palm Beach, FL. The band will also perform in August at Lollapalooza, the event that was originally founded by Jane's Addiction vocalist, Perry Farrell.
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Pet Shop Boys "Yes" (Astralwerks)
The electronic/dance/pop band, which has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, is back in action with its 10th studio disc. "Yes" is the Pet Shop Boy's first offering since 2006's "Fundamental," although the group did release one remix effort, 2007's "Disco 4," during that break.
The new album was produced by Brian Higgins' crack team, Xenomania, which also co-wrote three tracks on the set. Guitar great Johnny Marr (The Smiths, Modest Mouse) guests on "Yes." The first single is the track "Love etc."
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Ron White "Behavioral Problems" (Capitol)
The mega-popular funnyman, who has made millions laugh with his appearances on Comedy Central, returns with a new live disc that features 27 comedic bits. This CD follows several other successful endeavors for White, who also can put New York Times Best Seller List author and Gold-certified recording artist on his resume.
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Black Label Society "Skullage" (Eagle)
While awaiting a proper studio follow-up to 2006's "Shot to Hell," Black Label's society of fans can pass the time by listening to this new compilation disc. Fans can also hear many of these tracks, no doubt, during Black Label Society's current North American tour.
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More new releases:
Beegie Adair, "Moments to Remember" (Green Hill)
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, "How Big Can You Get?--The Music of Cab Calloway" (Vanguard)
Camera Obscura, "My Maudlin Career" (4ad)
Chester French, "Love the Future" (Interscope)
Empire of the Sun, "Walking on a Dream" (Astralwerks)
Dan Fogelberg, "Live in Colorado 1977" (Store for Music)
Great White, "Rising" (Shrapnel)
Jars Of Clay, "The Long Fall Back to Earth" (Provident)
Booker T. Jones, "Potato Hole" (Anti)
Lacuna Coil, "Shallow Life" (Century Media)
Manchester Orchestra, "Mean Everything to Nothing" (Sony)
Mormon Tabernacle Choir, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (Mormon Tabernacle)
Rick Ross, "Deeper Than Rap" (Def Jam)
Tinted Windows, "Tinted Windows" (S-Curve)
Allen Toussaint, "The Bright Mississippi" (Nonesuch)
Green Day Announces Summer Tour
Green Day has announced a slate of 38 summer dates that begins July 3 in Seattle and marks the chart-topping rock band's first full North American tour in more than three years.
The summer trek, which will support the trio's May 15 album "21st Century Breakdown" (Reprise Records), heads clockwise through Canada and the U.S. The band plays Midwest, East Coast and southern dates before finishing up in Los Angeles on Aug. 25. Venues will be announced at a later date.
The new album, which follows 2004's Billboard 200-topping "American Idiot," was produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins); the first single, "Know Your Enemy," was released to radio April 16. As Billboard previously reported, Green Day will celebrate the release with a show at New York's Bowery Ballroom on May 18.
Here are Green Day's tour dates:
July 3: Seattle, Wash.
July 4: Vancouver, British Columbia
July 6: Edmonton, Alberta
July 7: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
July 9: Winnipeg, Manitoba
July 10: Fargo, ND
July 11: Minneapolis, Minn.
July 13: Chicago, Ill.
July 14: Detroit, Mich.
July 16: Hamilton, Ont.
July 17: Ottawa, Ont.
July 18: Montreal, Quebec
July 20: Boston, Mass.
July 21: Philadelphia, Penn.
July 22: Pittsburgh, Penn.
July 24: Hartford, Conn.
July 25: Albany, NY
July 27: New York, NY
July 29: Washington, DC
July 31: Nashville, Tenn.
Aug. 1: Atlanta, GA
Aug. 3: Tampa, Fla.
Aug. 4: Miami, Fla.
Aug. 5: Orlando, Fla.
Aug. 7: New Orleans, LA
Aug. 8: Houston, TX
Aug. 9: San Antonio, TX
Aug. 11: St. Louis, MO
Aug. 12: Kansas City, MO
Aug. 13: Omaha, Neb.
Aug. 15: Denver, Colo.
Aug. 16: Salt Lake City, Utah
Aug. 18: San Jose, Calif.
Aug. 20: San Diego, Calif.
Aug. 21: Las Vegas, Nev.
Aug. 22: Phoenix, Ariz.
Aug. 24: Sacramento, Calif.
Aug. 25: Los Angeles, Calif.
Summer heroes: Wolverine, Kirk & Spock, Potter
LOS ANGELES – What a who's who list Hollywood has lined up for its summer action spectacles: Wolverine. Transformers. Harry Potter. James Kirk. G.I. Joe. Terminator.
If there's one word to sum up it all up, it's this: Relentless.
Starting May 1, barely a weekend will pass without another brawny special-effects extravaganza landing in theaters.
Appropriately, summer starts with a couple of prequels.
After co-starring in three "X-Men" adventures about the Marvel Comics mutants, Hugh Jackman steps out from the pack for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." The film spins the back story of Jackman's metal-clawed loner, a military experiment gone rogue amid a government conspiracy to control his super-freak kinfolk.
Next, the starship Enterprise is relaunched in "Star Trek," with a new cast taking on the characters originated in the 1960s TV show. Chris Pine inherits William Shatner's role as dashing James Kirk, while Zachary Quinto plays Vulcan egghead Spock (Leonard Nimoy, who created the role, pops up as the older Spock).
Like "Star Trek" director J.J. Abrams, Pine grew up more a "Star Wars" kid than a "Star Trek" kid. After snagging the role, Pine started watching the original series but stopped halfway through the first season.
"It was kind of nice to familiarize myself with the world, but it didn't help me much at all to delve any deeper," Pine said. "If anything, it was a hindrance to kind of watch what Mr. Shatner had done, because he'd done it so well, and he was so specific.
"There were certain mannerisms that I think are definitely Kirk-ian things that I wanted to use in my portrayal, but for the most part, I wanted to free myself up to create something new."
The director of the final four "Harry Potter" movies, David Yates, is still giving thanks for the young cast he inherited, led by Daniel Radcliffe as boy wizard Harry and Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as his school pals.
"There was something very, very, very clever in their choices. Not a day goes by I'm not grateful for this bunch they put together," Yates said. "It's a remarkable bunch of kids."
In "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," Harry is charged with uncovering a forgotten memory from a new Hogwarts teacher (Jim Broadbent), information the young sorcerer needs for his final showdown against dark wizard Voldemort.
While Yates marvels over how his youthful cast has blossomed, "Transformers" director Michael Bay was thrilled over the improved acting chops of his computer-animated robots for the sequel.
"We were just touching the surface last time in what they're capable of doing," Bay said. "This time, they really emote."
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" reunites puny but plucky human Shia LaBeouf with his giant, shape-shifting Autobot buddies in a rematch against the evil Decepticon robot clan.
Also in a rematch are Tom Hanks and Ron Howard with "Angels & Demons," their follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code." This installment hurls Hanks' symbologist into an ancient feud between the Vatican and a secret brotherhood that has kidnapped the cardinals in line to become the next pope.
Howard felt less pressure this time adapting Dan Brown's best-seller than he had with "The Da Vinci Code," a literary phenomenon whose did-Christ-have-kids premise put the movie under a severe microscope by fans and detractors alike.
"Documentaries are being made about `Da Vinci Code.' Theologians develop symposiums around it. Ministers were using it as a way to, frankly, entice people to church," Howard said, adding that the new film "remains provocative, yes, but it doesn't hold that same place at the center of the zeitgeist. So it's really full-on escapism.
Other action highlights:
• "Terminator: Salvation": Christian Bale leads the last shreds of humanity against machine enemies as the franchise reboots without Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra": The action figures get their own movie as the G.I. Joe guys take on an arms dealer and a militant secret organization.
• "Inglourious Basterds": Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino resurrect "Dirty Dozen"-style action as Jewish soldiers dish out chaos among the Nazis.
• "Public Enemies": Johnny Depp is gangster John Dillinger and Christian Bale is G-Man Melvin Purvis in Michael Mann's Depression-era crime saga.
• "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" — The remake casts Denzel Washington as a subway dispatcher and John Travolta as a bad guy ransoming a trainload of passengers.
• "Drag Me to Hell": "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi returns to his "Evil Dead" roots with a horror tale about a bank employee (Alison Lohman) tormented by a vengeful customer's supernatural curse.
• "District 9": "Lord of the Rings" overlord Peter Jackson produces a sci-fi tale about a human who becomes an unlikely ally for aliens held in a South African ghetto.