Earlier this year we learned that Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown’s third book, The Lost Symbol is being turned into a movie at Columbia Pictures. What we didn’t know at the time was whether Hanks would be involved and, in light of the general disinterest in the second Code movie Angels & Demons, you might think they’d have second thoughts about doing it at all. Not so, according to our sources.

Word is that The Lost Symbol is close to starting pre-production and the studio still plans to fast track it for a 2012 release date. Most importantly, we’ve heard that Tom Hanks is “all but ready to return to the character of Robert Langdon.” Far less certain however is the involvement of Ron Howard as director, though more often than not money talks and Columbia Pictures has plenty to spend.

The thing is, even though Angels & Demons was barely a blip here in America, it made $350 million internationally. There’s still tons of money to be made here and Columbia is willing to keep spending to make more movies. The Lost Symbol is coming.