Evangelical Protestant groups and even a high-ranking official in the Vatican, are calling for a boycott of the movie version of The Da Vinci Code.

The sad fact is, we humans are sinful, curious beings. When somebody tells us that something is immoral, disgusting, depraved and to be avoided at all costs - well, hey, we're going to check it out.

In 1953, producer-director Otto Preminger drew the ire of the Hollywood Production Code office and the Catholic Legion of Decency with his romantic comedy The Moon is Blue - an otherwise tame little antique by modern standards, but the first American feature to use the words "virgin" and "seduce" outloud since the early '30s, when the Code was made ironclad.

Preminger released the movie without a Code sticker and made a bundle - and movies have been going downhill (or growing more explicit) ever since.

Sex is one thing, though, and religion is another. The American Family Association and other groups scored a victory of sorts with their boycott of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - one of the few movies, in my experience, actually to draw pickets at a Wilmington theater.

Last Temptation, as you might recall, contained a lot of nudity and it treated the apostle Judas as something other than a miserable traitor. More to the point, it included an extended dream sequence in which Jesus imagined climbing down from the cross, marrying two women, enjoying sex, having children and living to a ripe old age.

Now, orthodox Christianity teaches that Jesus, while perfect, felt all the emotions and temptations of ordinary mortals. Evangelicals were horrified, however.

Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ publicly offered to reimburse Universal Studios for all its production costs to buy up every single print, so he could destroy them. Others launched letter-writing campaigns and 1,200 Christian radio stations in California alone denounced the movie in advance.

Those efforts seemed to pay off. The United Artists chain (which operated Wilmington's College Road Cinemas at the time) joined the Edwards and General chains in refusing to carry Last Temptation, freezing the movie off some 3,500 screens. Activists succeeded in imposing local bans, including ones in cities as large as New Orleans and Savannah.

In the end, Last Temptation grossed slightly more than $8 million, well below the usual gross for a Scorsese picture. The Blockbuster chain refused to carry the video version - a ban that remains in effect, according to PBS (although the film can be ordered through Blockbuster's Web site).

OK. On the other hand, Last Temptation was based on a novel by the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba the Greek), whose cerebral text was a cult hit with the turtleneck-and-beret set, back in the Beat Generation. The Da Vinci Code has already been read, or at least bought, by 40 million people, not counting those who checked it out of the library.

Last Temptation, moreover, boasted a cast of serious actors (Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Roberts Blossom, etc.) none of whom, alas, were heavyweight box-office draws. The Da Vinci Code stars Tom Hanks, Mr. All-American.

It's easy to launch a popular boycott against elite culture. When it comes to pop culture, though, the armies of the faithful might not be as willing to follow. Consider the troubled history of the boycott by the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God and some other church groups against the Disney empire.

Upset by the Disney organizations granting of spousal benefits to same-sex partners and by the release of movies like Priest (from Disney subsidiary Miramax), the Baptists in 1997 urged believers to stay away from Disney theme parks and forgo DVDs of The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.

Unfortunately, Disney did not spiral toward bankruptcy and other events - notably travel scares after 9/11 - seemed to have a bigger impact in the company's bottom line. The Southern Baptists declared victory last year, noting Disney's release of the Christian-inspired The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. On the other hand, the corporate same-sex benefits remains in effect.

Sometimes, a boycott can backfire. Priest grossed $4 million in the American box office, or about $3 million more than it normally might have, if the boycotts and pickets hadn't given it a publicity boost. The gritty kitchen-sink drama by left-leaning director Antonia Bird depicted one parish priest cruising gay bars in Liverpool while his superior back at the rectory was sleeping with the housekeeper. As Roger Ebert, a Catholic, noted caustically, aside from its shock value, it just wasn't very good.

I think foes of The Da Vinci Code might profit by reading Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 by Wilmington historian Robert B. Toplin. You'll recall that the 2004 mockumentary generated its share of calls for boycotts.

Far more effective, though, according to Toplin, was the burst of attacks from Republicans and conservatives who claimed Moore's movie was inaccurate or played loose with facts. Some of those attacks were themselves inaccurate or hysterical, Toplin claims, but enough mud flew to change public perceptions.

Moore sold $200 million in tickets with Fahrenheit 9/11, but he mostly ended up preaching to the choir. Studies showed that undecided voters - the audience the activist director had hoped to reach - perceived the movie as "controversial" and stayed away in droves.

Hmm. Now, Mel Gibson is still wrapping up his Apocalypto for Christmas release, but maybe some of the faithful can persuade him to do a sequel to The Passion of the Christ.

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