Robert Langdon (franchise)

The Robert Langdon franchise consists of American action-adventure mystery-thriller installments, including three theatrical films directed by Ron Howard, and a television series.^[2][3] The films, based on the novel series written by Dan Brown, center on the fictional character of Robert Langdon. Though based on the book series, the films have a different chronological order, consisting of: The Da Vinci Code (2006), Angels & Demons (2009) and Inferno (2016), all starring Tom Hanks as Langdon, alongside different ensemble casts. Despite mixed-to-negative critical reception, the films are considered box office successes, having a combined gross total of $1.5 billion worldwide.

Robert Langdon
Official home release artwork for the film trilogy
Directed by	Ron Howard
Based on	Robert Langdon novels by Dan Brown
Starring	Tom Hanks (See list below)
Production companies	Columbia Pictures Imagine Entertainment Universal Television (The Lost Symbol) CBS Studios (The Lost Symbol) (See detailed list below)
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Entertainment Paramount Global
Release date	2006–2021
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$350 million[1]
Box office	$1,463,474,856[1]

The television series, a contemporary-prequel titled The Lost Symbol (2021), starring Ashley Zukerman as Langdon, explores the early years of Langdon's career.

Development

Dan Brown's novels about Professor Robert Langdon: Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003) and Inferno (2013), quickly became international bestsellers; they were soon adapted into films by Columbia Pictures with Ron Howard directing and producing.

Films

Film	U.S. release date	Director	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
The Da Vinci Code	May 19, 2006 (2006-05-19)	Ron Howard	Akiva Goldsman	Brian Grazer and John Calley
Angels & Demons	May 15, 2009 (2009-05-15)		Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp	Brian Grazer, John Calley and Ron Howard
Inferno	October 28, 2016 (2016-10-28)		David Koepp	Brian Grazer and Ron Howard

Television

Series	Seasons	Episodes		Originally released		Network	Showrunners
The Lost Symbol	1	10		September 16 – November 18, 2021 (2021-09-16 – 2021-11-18)		Peacock	Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie

The Lost Symbol

Main article: The Lost Symbol (TV series)

Following the worldwide successes of the first two films,^[4][5] Columbia Pictures began development on a film adaptation of The Lost Symbol.^[6][7] Hanks and Howard were scheduled to return as star and director, with Brian Grazer and John Calley as producers, while a script was collectively co-written by Steven Knight,^[8] original author Dan Brown,^[9] and Danny Strong.^[10] By January 2013, the final draft of the script was near completion, with pre-production expected to start later that year.^[11] In July 2013, Sony Pictures announced they would adapt Inferno as the next film instead.^[12][13]

In June 2019, the project was announced to be re-conceived as a television series tentatively titled Langdon. The series serves as a prequel to the film series, with Daniel Cerone serving as creator, showrunner, chief executive producer, and screenwriter. Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, Samie Falvey and Anna Culp will act as additional executive producers. The show was a co-production between Imagine Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, and Universal Television Studios and was ordered to series on NBC.

The plot revolves around a young Robert Langdon, who is hired by the CIA to solve a number of deadly puzzles when his mentor goes missing.^[14] By March 2020, Ashley Zukerman had been cast in the lead role.^[15] Later that month it was announced that the production had been given a series order and would be moving to Peacock.^[16] The show premiered on September 16, 2021, concluded on November 18, 2021, and was officially canceled after one season on January 24, 2022.^[17]

Cast and characters

List indicators

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in the series.

• An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
•  ^Y indicates a younger version of the character.

Character	Film			Television
	The Da Vinci Code	Angels & Demons	Inferno	Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol
Prof. Robert Langdon	Tom Hanks Uncredited actorY	Tom Hanks		Ashley Zukerman
Sophie Neveu	Audrey Tautou Garance Mazureck,Y Daisy Doidge-Hill,Y Lilli Ella KelleherY
Sir Leigh Teabing The Teacher	Ian McKellen
Bishop Manuel Aringarosa	Alfred Molina
Capt. Bezu Fache	Jean Reno
André Vernet	Jürgen Prochnow
Silas	Paul Bettany Hugh MitchellY
Jacques Saunière	Jean-Pierre Marielle
Remy Jean	Jean-Yves Berteloot
Father Patrick McKenna		Ewan McGregor
Dr. Vittoria Vetra		Ayelet Zurer
Cdr. Maximilian Richter		Stellan Skarsgård
Cardinal Strauss		Armin Mueller-Stahl
Lt. Chartrand		Thure Lindhardt
Dr. Sienna Brooks			Felicity Jones
Christoph Bouchard			Omar Sy
Bertrand Zobrist			Ben Foster
Elizabeth Sinskey			Sidse Babett Knudsen
Harry Sims The Provost			Irrfan Khan
Peter Solomon				Eddie Izzard
Isabel Solomon				Laura De Carteret
Katherine Solomon				Valorie Curry
Zachary Solomon				Keenan Jolliff
Mal'akh				Beau Knapp
Ofc. Alfonso Nuñez				Rick Gonzalez
DoS/CIA Inoue Sato				Sumalee Montano

Additional crew and production details

Film	Composer	Cinematographer	Editors	Production companies	Distributing companies	Running time
The Da Vinci Code	Hans Zimmer	Salvatore Totino	Dan Hanley & Mike Hill	Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Skylark Productions, Government of Malta	Sony Pictures Releasing	2hr 28min
Angels & Demons				Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Skylark Productions, Panorama Film Studios		2hr 18min
Inferno			Dan Hanley & Tom Elkins	Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, LSG Productions, LS Capital Film Corporation, Mid Atlantic Films		2hr 1min
The Lost Symbol	Will Bates	Gyula Pados, Fraser Brown, Boris Mojsovski, and David Greene	David Trachtenberg, Greg Sirota, Mark J. Goldman, Alexander Aquino-Kaljakin, and Juan Carlos Garza	Universal Television, Imagine Television Studios, Peacock Original Series, CBS Studios, Dworkin/Beattie Productions	Peacock	5hr 30min (approx. 40 min per episode)

Reception

For more details on the reception of each film, see the "Reception" section on each film's article.

Box office performance

Film	Box office gross				Box office ranking		Budget	Ref(s)
	Opening weekend (North America)	North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
The Da Vinci Code	$77,073,388	$217,536,138	$540,703,713	$758,239,851	#146	#71	$125 million	[18]
Angels & Demons	$46,204,168	$133,375,846	$352,554,970	$485,930,816	#390	#170	$150 million	[19]
Inferno	$14,860,425	$34,343,574	$185,677,685	$220,021,259	#2,244	#586	$75 million	[20]
	Total	$385,255,558	$1,078,936,368	$1,464,191,926			$350 million	[1]

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
The Da Vinci Code	25% (231 reviews)[21]	46 (40 reviews)[22]	B+[23]
Angels & Demons	36% (258 reviews)[24]	48 (36 reviews)[25]	B+[23]
Inferno	23% (254 reviews)[26]	42 (47 reviews)[27]	B+[23]
The Lost Symbol	55% (11 reviews)[28]	57 (6 reviews)[29]	—

References

1. "Robert Langdon". Box Office Mojo. November 13, 2016.
2. Dutta, Debopriyaa (September 15, 2021). "Robert Langdon Franchise Recap: What To Know Before The Lost Symbol". Screen Rant. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
3. Andreeva, Nellie (June 5, 2019). "NBC Nabs Robert Langdon Drama Based On Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol' From Imagine With Big Commitment". Deadline. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
4. "The Da Vinci Code". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
5. "Angels & Demons". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
6. Fleming, Michael (2009-04-20). "Columbia moves on 'Symbol'". Variety.com. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
7. "The Mystery of Dan Brown". The Guardian. London. September 2009. Retrieved September 22, 2009.
8. Siegel, Tatiana (February 3, 2010). "Columbia finds 'Symbol'; Knight to adapt third book in 'Da Vinci Code' series". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
9. Fernandez, Jay A.; Kit, Borys (2010-12-20). "EXCLUSIVE: Dan Brown Taking Over 'Lost Symbol' Screenplay". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved 2015-11-21.
10. Williams, Owen (March 2, 2012). "New Writer For The Lost Symbol: Dan Brown 3 gets an overhaul". Empire
11. Nicole Sperling (January 15, 2013). "Dan Brown: What's the film status of his book 'The Lost Symbol'?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
12. Tom Hanks' 'Inferno' Shifts Opening to 2016
13. "Tom Hanks And Ron Howard To Return For Next Dan Brown Movie 'Inferno'; Sony Sets December 2015 Release Date". Deadline Hollywood. July 16, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
14. "NBC Nabs Robert Langdon Drama Based on Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol' from Imagine with Big Commitment". 5 June 2019.
15. "Ashley Zukerman Cast as Robert Langdon in NBC Drama Pilot". 2 March 2020.
16. "'Dan Brown's Langdon' NBC Pilot Picked Up To Series By Peacock". Deadline Hollywood. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
17. "'Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol' Canceled at Peacock After One Season". January 24, 2022.
18. "The Da Vinci Code". Box Office Mojo. October 22, 2016.
19. "Angels & Demons". Box Office Mojo. October 22, 2016.
20. "Inferno". Box Office Mojo. November 13, 2016.
21. "The Da Vinci Code". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
22. "The Da Vinci Code". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
23. "Cinemascore". Cinemascore.com. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
24. "Angels & Demons". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
25. "Angels & Demons". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
26. "Inferno". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
27. "Inferno". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
28. "Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
29. "Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved November 7, 2021.

External links