'Da Vinci' to star Tom Hanks, debut at Cannes Fest in May

Case cracked: "The Da Vinci Code" will be the opening-night movie at the Cannes Film Festival in May, organizers said.

Based on Dan Brown's esoteric thriller about code-breaking and conspiracy, the film will debut at the Riviera festival and in French theaters on May 17, the festival said Saturday. The rest of the world will have to wait two days, until May 19.

The adaptation by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard ("A Beautiful Mind") has an international cast led by Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.

Like the novel, the movie is set largely in France: The story line opens with the murder of the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris.