Sony Pictures is targeting to release Dan Brown's bestselling novel Inferno on December 18, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

The movie will be the third adaptation of the novels depicting the life of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, played by no other than award-winning actor Tom Hanks.

Hanks will be reunited with director Ron Howard who had surprisingly agreed to direct Inferno after turning down directing Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.

Both Hanks and Howard worked together for the adaptation of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

Sony Pictures is optimistic that Inferno will attain the same success that The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons had. The Da Vinci Code, released in 2006, grossed $758 million worldwide, while Angels and Demons, released in 2009, grossed $486 million.

According to a report from Cinema Blend, it was quite a surprise for Howard to be back directing a Dan Brown material after deciding not to direct The Lost Symbol, while he agreed to produce the film adaptation. The project was now shelved to give way for Inferno. The previous reports said that Mark Romanek will be the one directing The Lost Symbol, but this went into oblivion as Hanks will be busy shooting for the Inferno.

Actor Tom Hanks will also be busy in October 2013 for his role in a film about the heroic captain who rescued his ship after being seized by Somali pirates. The film which was based on true-to-life events will be titled Captain Phillips.

By Decemner 2013, Hanks will then be out in Walt Disney's John Lee Hancock's Saving Mr. Banks, also a true-to-life story of how Disney convinced author P.L. Travers to adapt her book Mary Poppins.

According to Cinema Blend, Inferno will compete with other blockbuster film franchises set to debut on 2015 namely The Avengers 2 by Joss Whedon, Star Wars Episode VII by J.J. Abrams, Man of Steel sequel, Bond 24 by Sam Mendes, Ant-Man by Edgar Wright, The Hunger Games:Mockingjay Part 2 by Francis Lawrence, Jurassic Park 4, Terminator, Independence Day 2 by Roland Emmerich, Fantastic Four reboot by Josh Tranks and Pirates of the Caribbean 5.