Ron Howard not directing 'The Lost Symbol'

Ron Howard will not direct The Lost Symbol, but is still expected to produce the film.

Howard previously directed The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. The Lost Symbol is the third film in the series to be adapted from a Dan Brown novel.

"He wanted to produce this one, not direct," a Sony source told Deadline.

"Ron told [Sony executives] Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton that he was not going to be directing Dan Brown's novels anymore. He just didn't want to do that thing over and over, the same character and the same stories."

Tom Hanks will reprise his role from the previous two films as Harvard professor Robert Langdon. Dan Brown is to write the screenplay.

Howard, who has directed A Beautiful Mind and Frost/Nixon in the past, last helmed the Vince Vaughn comedy The Dilemma.

> Interview: Ron Howard ('The Dilemma')

Watch the trailer for The Dilemma below: