Tintin Movies Put On Hold

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It seems times really are tough. Jackson and Spielberg have been told no by Universal Pictures when Jackson told them a budget of $130 was needed to make the Tintin movies.

Spielberg was hoping to start his first Tintin movie next month with Jackson making the second and it was believed they would be doing the 3rd together.

One of the reasons the studio has balked is because of the huge cut of profits that would be demanded by the 2 biggest box office directors in Hollywood. With the credit crunch hitting Hollywood they felt that having to agree to pay out a percentage of any movie profits to 2 big names rather than the usual 1 was a risk to far.

Paramount, owner of DreamWorks, had agreed to finance half the film but was hoping to have a financial partner in Universal. Paramount has already sunk $30 million into the movie on 3-D tests, scripts etc although that $130 million budget Spielberg says he needs includes Paramounts $30

Universal Pictures say that just to break even the movie would need to take $425 million world wide and no 3-Dmotion capture movie has come close to that, think Beowulf and The Polar Express.

In an attempt to save the Tintin movies both Spielberg and Jackson showed a group of 10 Paramount executives a 10 minute sample of the movie which had already been shot at Jackson’s New Zealand visual effects company, Weta Digital.

Paramount executives are currently analyzing the economics of the Tintin movies and are expected to give the 2 directors an answer as to whether they will bankroll the entire cost. If they won’t, for the first time in long long while, Spielberg and Jackson will have to start doing the rounds with caps in hand.

Andy Serkis To Play Captain Haddock

Andy Serkis, famous for his role as Gollum in the Lord Of The Rings, is to play Captain Haddock in the Tintin movies.

One of the reasons Peter Jackson couldn’t direct The Hobbit movies was because he had committed to doing the Tintin movies and of course Andy Serkis will be teaming up on the set of The Hobbit movies with Del Toro who is directing and Jackson who is producing.

Here’s what Andy Serkis had to say to the BBC recently about working on the Tintin movies:

“I’m really excited about it. We’ve done a few (screen) tests and we’re just about to start shooting principal photography in September.”

Stop motion filming on the first Tintin movie will be shot in Los Angeles but the movie gossip columns are already speculating as to whether Peter Jackson will make his Tintin movie a little darker. When Andy was asked if Jackson planned a darker tone to his Tintin movie he said:

“There isn’t a finished script as yet so I don’t really know exactly which way it’s going to go. We’ve had a look at some sequences and done some test sequences which may or may not be in the movie.”

On working with the dream team of Spielberg and Jackson Andy said:

“Working with the two of them together is a real joy. It’s a great relationship, really superb, two people at the top of their game kind, just having a lot of fun really. Peter’s always in control of his material, he’s got so many brilliant ideas, he’s such a visionary so they’re just bouncing off each other in a really exciting way. It’s fantastic to be around.”

The Tintin Movies

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are to direct a Tintin movie each with one other movie to be made either by a third as yet un-named director or possibly as a joint venture by the two.

Steven Spielberg has been trying to fit all the pieces together to make the Tintin movies for around 25 years but only recently did things fall into place for him and he and Jackson and Dreamworks were busy getting the projects organized for most of 2007.

Steven Spielberg is currently working on the first Tintin movie, believed to be The Secret Of The Unicorn. All 3 movies will be shot in 3D animation. Jackson explained to Empire Magazine earlier this year:

“We’re making them look photorealistic. The fibres of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people – but real Hergé people”

Steven Spielberg added:

“Herge’s characters have been reborn as living beings, expressing emotion and soul which goes beyond anything we’ve seen to date with computer animated characters. We want Tintin’s adventures to have the reality of a live-action film, and yet Peter and I felt that shooting them in a traditional live-action format would simply not honour the distinctive look of the characters and world that Herge created”

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