Tom Hanks and Ron Howard to return for Dan Brown's Inferno movie

The actor and director will be back for the third Da Vinci Code adaptation

Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou in Ron Howard's 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code (Rex)

Tom Hanks will return to star in the third Da Vinci Code movie adaptation, Inferno, with Ron Howard on board to direct again.

Howard enjoyed great success with the first thriller in 2006, which grossed more than $750 million at the global box office. The follow-up, prequel Angels & Demons, was also successful, taking close to $500 million worldwide.

Shooting on Inferno is scheduled to start in Italy next April, with Hanks reprising his role as Harvard professor of religious iconology and symbology, Robert Langdon.

The storyline follows Langdon as he battles to save the world from an imminent plague linked to a madman scientist, renaissance art and Dante’s classic poem Inferno.

Langdon wakes up in hospital with amnesia (always a foreboding start) but soon joins forces with his doctor Sienna Brooks.

Brown’s previous book in the series, The Lost Symbol, has not reached the silver screen, for reasons not shared by Howard and the production team.

David Koepp is writing Inferno’s script while Brian Grazer is co-producing with Howard, Deadline reports.

The film has been given a release date of 18 December 2015, although this is subject to change.