Variety has reported that Columbia Pictures is moving forward with plans for a movie version of Dan Brown's most recent book, The Lost Symbol. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will once again produce (returning from The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons), although it's not known yet if Howard will also direct. Tom Hanks is expected to reprise his role as Robert Langdon.

In an amusing coincidence, Columbia have signed screenwriter Steven Knight to adapt to the book for film (Akiva Goldsmith penned the two previous adaptations). With Brown's book bringing positive press to the Masonic fraternity, some readers might remember that it was the late British author Stephen Knight (no relation, as far as I know) and his book The Brotherhood which instigated a major scare campaign against Freemasonry in the 1980s....