'Da Vinci Code' movie to open Cannes film festival

PARIS (AFP) - The movie version of best-selling book "The Da Vinci Code", directed by Ron Howard, will open the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, two days before its worldwide release. The thriller, produced by Brian Grazer and John Calley for Colombia Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, will be not be competing for a festival award, said the statement Saturday evening. Dan Brown's book, about a series of high-profile murders behind a Vatican plot to conceal the true meaning of the Holy Grail, has sold more than 30 million copies in around 40 languages and provoked criticism from the Roman Catholic Church and historians. Producers invested 100 million dollars in the film version of the book, which stars US two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, French favourites Audrey Tatou and Jean Reno, and British actors Sir Ian Mckellen and Alfred Molina. [More]