Here’s why Ron Howard fired up ‘Inferno’ and ‘Lost Symbol’ got lost

“Inferno” is the third movie based on a Dan Brown novel but the fourth in his series. What happened to No. 3?

Ron Howard, who has directed all of the film adaptations, politely says it’s too similar to the previous books, “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons.” “We took a real serious shot at ‘Lost Symbol’ because it’s a great book,” he told Collider this week. “But we couldn’t solve it to the point where we felt we were offering the audience something fresh. And we didn’t want to be cashing in on the momentum of something.”

The hard truth might be that “The Lost Symbol” is the weakest of the bunch, getting, well, lost in the symbolism of the Founding Fathers and the Masons (ooh, there’s a pyramid on the dollar bill!). And it’s set not in picturesque Italy but in ho-hum, familiar Washington, D.C.

Also, as Entertainment Weekly put it, the story treads on familiar territory: “ ‘The Lost Symbol’ is Dan Brown’s ‘National Treasure,’ which itself is Jerry Bruckheimer’s ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ It’s Dan Brown’s ripoff on a ripoff of himself.”

Still, if “Inferno” does well at the box office, you can bet Howard will channel hero Robert Langdon and solve that script conundrum fast.

Sharon Hoffmann, shoffmann@kcstar.com

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Here’s why Ron Howard fired up ‘Inferno’ and ‘Lost Symbol’ got lost."