Tom Hanks and Ron Howard Reteaming for Dan Brown's 'Inferno'

It wasn't that long ago that everybody was talking about Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The religious mystery novel was a cultural phenomenon, leading to $750M-grossing film led by Tom Hanks and Ron Howard. Three years later, Brown's second novel Angels & Demons was adapted but by then some of the momentum had faded. Nevertheless, Sony is ready to bring Brown's heroic symbology professor Robert Langdon back to the big screen, only it won't be the adaptation many were expecting.

Howard and Hanks will reunite for Inferno, the latest book from Brown and completely skipping over the third novel, The Lost Symbol. Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go) had been attached to direct 'Symbol' for quite some time, but the project has stalled for unknown reasons. Inferno will be written by David Koepp, and the story this time has Langdon investigating the mystery behind Dante's Inferno...

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

 Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Sony may have figured with the 'Symbol' delay, and the recent release of Inferno, it made more sense to jump right into what was fresh in the minds of Dan Brown's fans. The plan is to have Inferno ready for release on December 18th 2015.