Director/producer Ron Howard is to begin shooting Inferno, the big-screen adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling mystery novel, at the end of April.
The movie is the third installment in Columbia Pictures' Robert Langdon series starring Tom Hanks as the fictional, famed Harvard symbologist. The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons have already earned more than $1.2 billion worldwide to date.
The upcoming Imagine Entertainment sequel, which has a screenplay by David Koepp, is slated for release Oct. 14, 2016. The project's executive producers are Dan Brown, Anna Culp, Bill Connor, and David Householter.
"Inferno continues the Harvard symbologist's adventures on screen: when Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories and prevent a madman from releasing a global plague connected to Dante's Inferno," a synopsis said.
Felicity Jones will star opposite Hanks as Dr. Sienna Brooks, while Irrfan Khan will play Harry Sims, also known as The Provost. Omar Sy will play Christoph Bruder and Sidse Babett Knudsen will portray Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, the head of the World Health Organization. The filmmakers are also in talks with several other internationally recognized actors for major roles.
"For this film, I wanted Tom Hanks to be surrounded by an international cast of actors whose energy will underscore Robert Langdon's life-or-death peril, the high-stakes action he takes, and the global threat that he's trying to prevent," Howard said in a statement. "Felicity, Irrfan, Omar, and Sidse have all broken through with recognition here in America as well as their home countries -- they are phenomenal talents and we can't wait to get started."
"We're thrilled to be making a third Robert Langdon film with Ron, Tom and Brian [Grazer,]" added Doug Belgrad, president of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group. "Inferno will deliver all of the excitement, intrigue and international adventure that audiences expect from a film based on Dan Brown's huge selling Langdon book series. We can't wait to see this character back on the big screen."
Michael De Luca and Andrea Giannetti will oversee the project for Columbia Pictures.