An Italian state prosecutor has announced plans to bring criminal charges against the creators of the film version of The Da Vinci Code.

Ron Howard, director of the film, and Dan Brown, author of the novel of the same name, are among those named in an obscenity investigation associated with the film.

A total of 10 people from the film production were named. They cannot be extradited to face charges, but could be arrested if they travel to Italy.

The state prosecutor's office near the village of Civitavecchia, north of Rome, opened a criminal investigation into the film after complaints by a group of priests.

The priests argued The Da Vinci Code is "obscene" from a religious perspective under Italy's criminal code because it puts forward the idea that Jesus was married and had a child.

The complaint comes almost a year after the commercial release of the film.

A representative of the prosecutor's office said he did not know why the priests brought forward the complaint at this time.

The charges mean a court date will be set to hear the charges against the filmmakers. A judge could elect to throw the charges out.

Both the book and film version of The Da Vinci Code  attracted widespread criticism from religious groups.

Howard has begun preproduction work on Angels and Demons, an earlier novel by Brown that introduced Robert Langdon, the heroic Harvard symbologist of The Da Vinci Code.