It's surely, to date, got to go down as one of the most laborious, tedious franchises to date. Kicking off with The Da Vinci Code and continuing with Angels & Demons, the cinematic adaptations of Dan Brown's books have taken themselves ridiculously seriously, oblivious to the fact that they're really quite dull for long stretches, that it's staggering they've made quite as much money as they have.

But the two films have put lots of money into the bank for Sony, and even the previously sequel-shy Tom Hanks (Toy Story aside) came back on-board easily enough. And thus, the cinematic adventures of Robert Langdon and his haircuts are set to continue, as Sony is pushing ahead with the film version of Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol.

Variety reports that the studio has hired Steven Knight, the writer of Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises, to pen the screenplay for the new film, which sees Langdon battling the symbols of the Freemasons this time. Tom Hanks hasn't yet committed to the project, but there seems to be not much in the way of doubt that he will. Likewise, director Ron Howard is a fair bet to return as well.

The book is apparently the fastest selling adult novel of all time, and hence Sony is keen to capitalise on that as soon as it can. Try to make the film a bit interesting this time, though?