The book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown which was followed by the popular movie staring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard provided the general public some exposure to cutting edge science along with a great deal of religious and perhaps even sacrilegious mixings and a major helping of some nefarious conspiracy theory. All of this material appears to capture our imaginations very well at least up to a point, but without delving into the story to outline any possible reasons, CERN, probably the most advanced scientific research facility in the world which served as the source for the actual science referenced by Brown as well as the starting place of the story evidently felt it was in their best interest to outwardly embrace this new source of publicity.
This special attention by CERN (also the birthplace of the world wide web) was perhaps decided upon to assuage any lasting negative effects that might come from perceived misunderstandings about the possible misuse of their science such as depicted in the story which is purely fictional entertainment while this might not be fully understood as such by the general public.
Link to CERN's website response to the movie:
http://angelsanddemons.cern.ch/
Basically, we needn't worry about a CERN antimatter bomb blowing up anything or even fear that their Large Hadron Collider will generate a black hole which will suck in the whole Earth, at least not anytime soon. (Science is good, science is not dangerous)
On the other hand the Catholic Church, another major player in the book and movie which was possibly cast in a less than Holy light had their own various and many responses, and it might be noted that the Vatican reportedly refused a visit by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks such as was welcomed by CERN and shown on their website. If you Google "Catholic Church on Angels and Demons" you may see much of the negative leaning but certainly free mass publicity that was generated for the book and movie. (Church is good, church is not dangerous)
We haven't seen much of a response from the "ancient secret brotherhood called the Illuminati - the most powerful underground organization in history" who where portrayed as the really bad guys in the movie (although some readers may actually favor them over the Catholic Church) but if they're as smart as they are reportedly powerful, my bet is that they had money invested in the movie and therefore made a killing - so what would they have to complain about? Oh yeah, at least that much (about the Illuminati) was the one thing that the book's author, Mr. Brown was sure to point out was a purely fictional use of an historic but certainly now extinct organization. And I'm sure that Mr. Hanks, Mr. Howard and the rest of the gang are pleased with that.
Without creating a too much of a spoiler my disappointment in not seeing any special effects with the portrayal of any "real" angels or demons either one was only surpassed by the totally nonsensical twist at the end concerning the ultimate bad guy but it did provide for some closure where needed. Several scenes were not suitable for children which could actually have been done without, but they too would like to see at least some kind of an angel out of the deal.
