Tom Hanks to star in film based on Dan Brown's 'Inferno'

LOS ANGELES, July 17 (UPI) -- Actor Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard are reuniting to make "Inferno," their third movie based on a Dan Brown mystery novel, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Hanks will reprise his "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons" role of Harvard University symbolist Robert Langdon in "Inferno."

The Hollywood Reporter said Sony Pictures plans to release the latest installment in the Howard-helmed franchise Dec. 18, 2015.

Published in May, "Inferno" follows Langdon as he tries to stop a threatening worldwide plague by following clues in Dante's "The Divine Comedy" in Florence and Venice.