Movies: AS ROBERT LANGDON, TOM HANKS MUST RECOVER HIS MEMORIES IN “INFERNO”

American legend Tom Hanks returns in one of his signature roles as the quick-thinking and resourceful symbologist Robert Langdon, in Columbia Pictures' new suspense thriller, Inferno.

Academy Award® winner Ron Howard directs the latest bestseller in author Dan Brown's billion-dollar Robert Langdon series, Inferno, which finds the famous symbologist on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world's population.

Hanks explains the enduring attraction of the franchise. “There is something Dan Brown has figured out – everybody likes a good puzzle, especially one you can actually figure out the clues to one at a time and solve,” he says. “These movies give that to the audience – it is almost an interactive film, and it has been like that since The Da Vinci Code.”

Borrowing its title from Dante’s masterwork, the Latin word for Hell, Inferno has the added component of a psychological thriller. Hanks explains, “Hell for Langdon in the movie is both a state of mind and a very physical experience because he is wracked with pain in his head and he is tortured by the fact he is ignorant of the reasons why.”

Ron Howard says the Robert Langdon role fits Tom Hanks like a glove. “Part of the reason everybody loves Tom in this role is that, in real life, he is Robert Langdon,” says Howard. “Both are driven by curiosity, share a dry sense of humor, and are men who, when faced with a puzzle, are like a dog with a bone – they are fascinated by the world around them and have the wonderful kind of mind that is able to decode it. And that’s all on top of the fact that he’s one of the best actors of our generation.”

Hanks enjoys returning time and again to the role of Robert Langdon because there’s nothing quite like unraveling a riddle. “Dan Brown created a character that can always be called into play: there’s always going to be a mystery worth analyzing,” he says. “These movies are fun and you learn something.”

Furthermore, Hanks says that Inferno marks a major point of departure for the character. “He usually knows everything there is to know about symbols, art, history, architecture, politics, and geopolitical cultures. But when the movie starts, he has no idea where he is or why,” says Hanks. “He goes to Venice, Florence and Istanbul – places he is supposed to know backwards and forwards, but he doesn’t. The mystery starts immediately – how did he get amnesia? Why is he here?”

Opening across the Philippines on Oct. 12, “Inferno” is distributed by Columbia Pictures in the Philippines, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Movie News: “INFERNO” STARS IN FLORENCE FOR WORLD PREMIERE

Tom Hanks, Ron Howard and Felicity Jones lead the cast and filmmakers of Columbia Pictures' Inferno for the world premiere and press conference in Florence, Italy.

The Hollywood A-listers participated in a press conference Thursday, Oct. 6, in the Palazzo Vecchio’s Salone dei 500, with fellow Inferno team members in attendance: actors Irrfan Khan and Omar Sy, as well as author Dan Brown.

On Friday, Oct. 7, the cast will be guests at Forte Belvedere for a special photo call together with photographers and journalists from the international press.

The big day for the world premiere is scheduled on Saturday, Oct. 8 at the avante-garde Florence Opera House (Teatro dell’Opera) with the cast and filmmakers expected to grace the red carpet.

Earlier on Wednesday night, Oct. 5, the four-day Inferno events kicked off when the film's trailer was projected onto the river in front of the Ponte Vecchio. This kind of projection has never been seen before in Italy: a massive jet of water used as a screen forming a mist on which the trailer was shown every 20 minutes.

Academy Award® winner Ron Howard returns to direct the latest bestseller in Dan Brown's billion-dollar Robert Langdon series, “Inferno,” which finds the famous symbologist on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world's population.

Opening across the Philippines on Oct. 12, “Inferno” is distributed by Columbia Pictures in the Philippines, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Movies: “INFERNO” STARS FEATURED IN SPECIAL CHARACTER POSTERS

As “Inferno” approaches its October 12 opening across the Philippines, Columbia Pictures has revealed individual character posters for its principal cast led by Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon.

Once again, the international setting of the tale Dan Brown has spun offered the filmmakers a chance to surround Hanks with a cast of global actors: the British Felicity Jones as Sienna Brooks; US actor Ben Foster as the the bioengineer Bertrand Zobrist; French actor Omar Sy as Christoph Bouchard; and Indian star Irrfan Khan as Harry Sims.

“One of the thrilling aspects of a Dan Brown story is that the international setting truly offers the opportunity to cast the best person for the role, regardless of their nationality,” says producer Brian Grazer. “It’s important and necessary, because one of the ways Ron is telling the story of Langdon’s global adventure is in surrounding him with a cast that looks and sounds like the entire world.”

Academy Award® winner Ron Howard returns to direct the latest bestseller in Dan Brown’s (Da Vinci Code) billion-dollar Robert Langdon series, Inferno, which finds the famous symbologist (again played by Tom Hanks) on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world’s population.

“Inferno” is distributed by Columbia Pictures in the Philippines, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. #InfernoMovie

Movies: “INFERNO” MARKS ROBERT LANGDON TRILOGY FOR RON HOWARD

Ron Howard has been the keeper of the cinematic legacy of Dan Brown’s best selling books for many years now – he made the hugely successful The Da Vinci Code back in 2006 followed, three years later, by Angels & Demons.

Each one, says Howard, has presented its own unique opportunities and the latest in the franchise – Columbia Pictures' Inferno was, at least in that regard, exactly the same as its illustrious predecessors.

“These films are hard work,” he says. “And you feel a lot of responsibility because they’re books that people love. But you know, they really are thrilling life experiences.”

Inferno finds the famous symbologist (again played by Tom Hanks) on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories.  Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world’s population.

Inferno is the most visually stylistic film in the series so far, with a series of cryptic dream sequences that take audiences inside Langdon’s head and lend an entirely different feel than previous installments. That is precisely what draws director Ron Howard to this series – out of 23 feature films made over more than three decades as a director, the only sequels he has chosen to helm are Angels & Demons and now Inferno.

“There have been characters that I love as much as I love Robert Langdon, but I always want to push myself to do something different. It’s more interesting than repeating yourself,” Howard explains. “But that’s what’s so great about the movies based on Dan Brown’s books – each of them is so different, and he explores such different themes in each adventure. Inferno is the most stylistically different yet. With this series, I get to go back and revisit a character I love while continuing to push myself in new directions.”

In the film, Langdon must make sense of clues relating to Dante’s epic poem. Howard explains, “Langdon’s hallucinating mind is tormented by a man obsessed with Dante. He’s forced to pick up the pieces and make sense of this clue path that’s been laid before him.”

Inferno, says Howard, is a movie that will both entertain and provoke discussion. “The Dan Brown stories combine these button-pushing ideas that offer the audience two things; there’s the tempo, the pace, there’s the clue path and there’s this feeling that you’re going to have something to talk about when the movie is over.”

Opening across the Philippines on Oct. 12, “Inferno” is distributed by Columbia Pictures in the Philippines, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Movies: “INFERNO” TO BE RELEASED IN IMAX CINEMAS IN THE PHILIPPINES OCT 12

Sony Pictures Entertainment, IMAX Corporation and Imagine Entertainment has announced that “Inferno,” the latest film in the Dan Brown (“The Da Vinci Code”) franchise, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® format

The film, starring Tom Hanks as Dr. Robert Langdon and directed by Ron Howard, will be released into IMAX® theatres worldwide (including the Philippines), coinciding with the film's general release date on October 12^th.

(Watch the “Inferno” Vignette “Langdon's Super Power” at https://youtu.be/gX2mXN7qKK4.)

“Inferno” continues the $1.2 billion franchise, following the hits “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons.”

"Dan Brown's Robert Langdon is back, and `Inferno' is his most thrilling adventure yet with the patented Dan Brown twists and turns," said Rory Bruer, president of Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures. "We've had an extraordinary response to the film from audiences – it's testing extremely well. Ron Howard has made `Inferno' the most visually stylistic film in the series so far, with intense action sequences and cryptic dream sequences that will have audiences wanting to experience this film in IMAX."

"Beginning with the very first IMAX DMR® release—“Apollo 13”—IMAX and Ron Howard, along with the support of our partners at Imagine Entertainment, have created a longstanding and successful tradition of bringing awe-inspiring entertainment to movie-goers around the globe," said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. and CEO of IMAX Entertainment. "Together with our friends and colleagues at Sony, we are excited to continue that legacy with Dan Brown's latest franchise installment Inferno, which is sure to thrill audiences when it launches this fall in IMAX® theatres worldwide."

The IMAX® release of “Inferno” will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX's customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

Academy Award® winner Ron Howard returns to direct the latest bestseller in Dan Brown's billion-dollar Robert Langdon series, “Inferno,” which finds the famous symbologist on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world's population. The film's screenplay is by David Koepp, based upon the novel by Dan Brown. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are the producers.

“Inferno” is distributed by Columbia Pictures in the Philippines, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.