The Lost Symbol is the third book in a series of them written by Dan Brown. Already the first two books in the series, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, have been made into big time film adaptations starring Tom Hanks, and the longtime plan has been for this third book to become a movie as well. But recent events have show that it’s going to be made by a different creative team than the people who were behind the first two.

“The Lost Symbol” has the best chance of being a great movie out of its already-adapted group of novels for several reasons. The most obvious is that it’s got far more action than Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code combined. The result of that action is a drastic reduction in exposition – the second most obvious positive trait the book has going for it. Now, Sony wants the author himself to play script doctor for The Lost Symbol film. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s a wild card. Brown is a great writer in the way that Louis L’Amour is a great writer. He’ll never go down in history as being deeper than a casket full of water, but he entertains far better than most. Whether his florid writing can translate to the tight-as-a-drum medium of screenplays is anybody’s guess, but his inclusion in the script process means the film either just lost or intensified its potential to be a threequel that far outshines its two predecessors. [THR]

A Dan Brown novel adaptation just got a serious pedigree at the pen.