When Dan Brown’s novel debuted, it was an inescapable cultural phenomenon. Thanks in part to its controversial subject matter, the book has sold over 80 million copies, making it one of the best-selling texts of all time. Naturally, the IP received even more backlash when Tom Hanks joined the film adaptation. Amidst several bans in prominent regions, the pic was also on the receiving end of many protests, which largely criticized its controversial narrative.
A number of countries tried to have the film banned, though not all government organizations agreed. The film premiered in China and made a healthy chunk of change but was pulled after nearly three weeks due to intense uproar and protests from the Patriotic Catholic Association and several other individual Catholics. “Our view is that it should never have been released in the first place,” a Patriotic Catholic Association spokesperson said, suggesting that “The Da Vinci Code” was responsible for causing social instability. In India, which has a prominent Christian and Muslim population, the film was banned in several states, though it was shown in others with the equivalent of an R rating. Prior to its cinematic release, several protestors in India stormed bookstores to stop sales of the novel.
There were also protests in several countries like Iran, Thailand, and Greece. Interestingly, the protests began even before the movie’s marketing campaign started. A Roman Catholic nun protested the project while it was filming at a London cathedral.
