Columbia Pictures has hired Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) to adapt author Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code sequel The Lost Symbol for the big screen. The Lost Symbol, which sold 1.6 million copies on its first day of release, was 2009’s best-selling book, according to Nielsen Bookscan.

In case you missed a book club meeting or two, here’s the synopsis:

Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object–artfully encoded with five symbols–is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon–a prominent Mason and philanthropist–is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations–all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

Columbia Pictures’ adaptations of Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons have earned over $1.24 billion in worldwide gross. No word yet on whether director Ron Howard and actor Tom Hanks will return to the franchise.

Personally, I’m looking forward to a Lost Symbol movie. I’ve enjoyed Brown’s books and Howard’s film adaptations. And, I especially enjoyed Hustler Video’s The Da Vinci Load and its sequel The Da Vinci Load 2: Angels & Semen (hey, don’t hate me cause I’m an intellectual).

It’s hard to know if in this picture Amanda Seyfried is threatening Julianne Moore with a dangerous instrument or simply looking to pull out an ingrown hair from one of Moore’s freckles. Regardless, one thing is certain in director Atom Egoyan erotically-charged, psychological thriller Chloe: Seyfried and Moore will engage in some raw and naked cougar/cub lesbo action!

An American adaptation of the French film Nathalie, Chloe is penned by Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary, The Resident) and stars Seyfried as a prostitute hired by an emotionally unstable woman (Moore) to seduce her husband (Liam Neeson) and report back with the sordid details of the affair.

As your cock the plot thickens, Seyfried, 24, and Moore, 49, strike up a heated relationship of their own, leading to intense older woman/younger girl type kink. To see an interview with Moore, click here. To see Seyfried parade around nude in the film’s trailer, go here.

Chloe is slated for release in early 2010. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group holds the film’s North American rights.

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Mr. Plinkett over at Red Letter Media has shot an 18-minute video review of James Cameron’s record-breaking blockbuster Avatar. Now, if you’re like me, watching something for 18-minutes on the web, usually ends with a sticky keyboard, an overdrawn credit card, and a tremendous amount of shame (I’m sorry, Nana, I know you’re watching me from heaven).

Thankfully, there aren’t any young, petite Asian schoolgirls bathing with giant squids to be found in Plinkett’s review. What you will find is a brutally insightful, spot-on criticism of Avatar that will save you a few bucks and three hours of your time.

If you must see Avatar, do the right thing. Pass on the whole theater/Imax crap and, instead, help out your local bootlegger.

Avatar has now surpassed Titanic in domestic gross, earning $601.2 million in 47 days. Titanic docked at $600.8 million during its theatrical run over a decade ago. James Cameron has remained an asshole.

This is actress Evangeline Lilly getting cheeky while signing autographs at ABC’s season six premiere party for “Lost.” The festivities were held at Waikiki beach and drew an estimated 15,000 fans (click here to see gallery).

Lilly plays fugitive Kate Austin on the show, but you probably already knew that. What you may not know is that the 30-year-old stunner plans to retire from acting after “Lost.”

Lilly recently told E! Online:

I love this process so much. I love tellling stories and I love this unbelievable group effort that goes into it and I love the dynamic of what a film does when people watch it, the inspirational qualities of film. So, I have a feeling I will want to have my fingers in the pot somehow and somewhere. I just haven’t found where that is yet.

Acting is something I appreciate, and I think it’s been an amazing experience, but I’m not passionate about acting the way you probably should be to call yourself an actor. I want to have some quiet space. [I want to] drop off the radar a little bit and enjoy a little bit of normalcy again.

Hmm. Contemplating retirement is easy when you’re sitting on a mountain of cash. Let’s hope Lilly has an unemployed boyfriend or secret coke addiction that forces her back to acting, preferably in roles that require plenty of bikinis.

Enjoy the gallery:

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Director Ben Hibon and writer Haylar Garcia are looking to breathe new life into the zombie genre with the animated post-apocalyptic feature A.D. Bernie Goldmann (George Romero’s Land of the Dead, 300) and Tarik Heitmann (The Cursed) are producing.

Hibon’s tells Zombie Info:

We set out to create a visual universe that distinguished itself from the classic zombie formula. Translating Haylar’s script into animation was the first step to making this project unique. Animation very rarely ventures into mature and dark territories. It’s very important to define a strong and bold look for this movie, create our own visual benchmark. A.D. has definitely its very own identity that serves the purpose of the movie; it’s stylised and graphical, but very gritty and textured just like the reality and the world the story is set in.

The project is far from complete, but you can peep the following trailer now:

The beginning of the end for the Emmy award-winning sci-fi serial “Lost” kicked off last night with a two-hour mind-blowing premiere episode that showcased characters living parallel lives … or as the show’s producers are calling it “flash sideways.”

The show’s ratings, which had declined as its mythos grew more intricate, increased for the first time since season two’s debut, drawing in 12.1 million viewers. The “Lost” clip-show special brought in 9.9 million viewers.

“Lost” co-creators and producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse joined Jimmy Kimmel last night to discuss the show’s premiere and answer what sequences were coincidence or intentional.

Lindelof and Cuse also talked about a recent “Lost” art show and announced that Sunday, May 23 will be the show’s end date.

ABC held a premiere party for cast, crew and fans of “Lost” on Saturday at Waikiki Beach. The event provided an estimated 15,000 Losties the opportunity to meet and chat up stars Michael Fox, Josh Holloway, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O’Quinn, Michael Emmerson, Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Nestor Carbonell, Harold Perrineau, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Henry Ian Cusick, Jeff Fahey, and Ken Leung.

The following is a gallery of the shindig:

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Award-winning director Drew Daywalt has written and directed some of the most twisted and disturbingly creepy film shorts in horror (Bedfellows is particularly frightening). Daywalt’s latest is a fun little shocker called Suicide Girl, starring sexy 24-year-old newcomer Brooke Wolfe (pictured above).

Check it out:

Daywalt is one of the founding members behind the indie-horror troupe Fewdio. He recently completed a 17-episode web series entitled Camera Obscura for MGW Entertainment (release date still pending).

Don’t know much about Brooke Wolfe, but the following gallery makes me want to:

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Adam Green is out to scare the shit out of white people. His new thriller Frozen captures the heart-stopping horror of getting stuck … on a ski lift … and, like, totally missing out on some awesome powder.

Take a look:

Well, at least it’s not about Hockey.

Frozen opens in limited release on Friday (click here to look up a venue near you). Tell all your white friends.

The beginning of the end starts tonight at 9 p.m. on ABC.

The sixth and final season of the Emmy award-winning sci-fi serial “Lost” is finally here. I have been eating healthy and staying out of harm’s way for the past six months to ensure I didn’t perish before this day. I caught the following TV spot for tonight’s premiere episode while watching this week’s “Desperate Housewives” on the DVR (Hey, Dexter’s Julie Benz is playing a stripper on the show).

The clip includes lots of new and intriguing footage. This shit is sick.

Check it out:

Of course, if you don’t like to be teased, you can catch the first four minutes of tonight’s episode early by clicking here.

Olivia Wilde (Turistas) has signed on to play Ella Verity in director Jon Favreau’s adaptation of Scott Mitchell Rosenberg’s graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens.

Set in the mid 19th century, the sci-fi shoot’em up follows a group of cowboys, led by gunslinger Zeke Jackson (Daniel Craig), on their quest to stop an alien race from enslaving humankind.

“Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof wrote the script with his go-to collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer serve as producers.

Cowboys & Aliens is set to go into production come July and may possibly be shot in 3-D.

Wilde is also set to star in Disney highly anticipated reboot Tron: Legacy.