Board plane to Geneva, clutching pristine copy of bestselling conspiracy thriller Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. The novel, which apparently describes the apocalyptic plans of a secret organisation of scientists called the Illuminati, has been transformed into a $100 million summer blockbuster by the director Ron Howard and his star Tom Hanks. The pair’s previous Brown adaptation, The Da Vinci Code, became one of the biggest hits of 2006, scooping $757 million at the global box office. This time, however, the movie lacks the instant brand recognition of The Da Vinci Code — that novel had sold 60 million copies before the film and had whipped up a world of Christian-baiting controversy. The producers of Angels & Demons have thus orchestrated an aggressive marketing putsch. They have invited 150 journalists to a four-day Angels & Demons love-in. Private aircraft will be hired and luxury hotel suites will be booked, as the hacks, with and without the movie’s stars (including Hanks and Ewan McGregor), will be pinged about from science labs in Geneva to churches in Rome to experience the Angels & Demons phenomenon in immersive detail.