Ron Howard said he was confident that *The Da Vinci Code* would be commercially successful, describing it as the one film in his career whose box-office potential seemed clear from the outset. The article highlights the unusual certainty behind a project adapted from Dan Brown’s hugely popular and controversial novel, despite Howard’s broader view that hits are normally difficult to predict.

Released in 2006, the thriller reunited Howard with Tom Hanks and drew on an international bestseller that had already generated extensive debate over its religious themes. The film received mixed critical reviews but became a major global success, taking more than $760 million worldwide and ranking among the highest-grossing films of that year.