The possibility of all these potential industry strikes is causing Ron Howard to have a very busy year. As Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg have done before him, Howard will try to juggle production on two anticipated films during the next 12 months. He just finished wrapping the big-screen adaptation of the acclaimed Peter Morgan play "Frost/Nixon" last week, which is scheduled for a late 2008 release. Now, Variety reports he will edit "Nixon" while prepping a February start for "Angels & Demons," a follow-up to the massive blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code."

With the possibility of a Writers Guild strike at the end of this month, producers Brian Grazer, John Calley and returning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman have been rushing to finalize the adaptation of Dan Brown's novel before the Oct. 31 deadline. While the novel is a prequel to "Da Vinci," it remains unclear whether the film will be a prequel or transform the narrative into a sequel. Meanwhile, Howard and his production team have been casting roles around Tom Hanks, who returns as fictional Harvard University professor of religious iconology and symbology (and unintentional adventurer) Robert Langdon.

The story finds Langdon investigating a secret society and a conspiracy that leads him to Vatican City. The conspiracy threatens the future of the Catholic Church (not the biggest fans of the series). Columbia Pictures and Grazer secured the rights to "Demons" after "Da Vinci" made more than $750 million worldwide. "Demons" is scheduled to open in theaters December 2008.

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