By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders, Variety.
Tintin
It looks like Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have a similar passion -- and I'm not talking directing movies. The two directors will combine their talents to create a digital 3-D adaptation of Tintin. Just to show they aren't playing around, the newly-formed duo announced that they plan to direct and produce three back-to-back features.
Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson to Direct Tintin
Each director will direct at least one of the three films; Weta won't even suggest who may be directing the third. Kathleen Kennedy joins Spielberg and Jackson as a producer on the three films, which might be released through DreamWorks Animation.
Tintin has long been an option for Spielberg, who has held various film rights to the comicbook series for more than 25 years. Jackson, who is obviously also a fan of the comic, secretly began developing the project with Spielberg. Jackson went so far as to create a 20-minute test reel that brought the Tintin characters to life.
Spielberg had this to say on the project:
"Herge's characters have been reborn as living beings, expressing emotion and a soul which goes far 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 honor the distinctive look of the characters and world that Herge created."
Tintin, which has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, chronicles adventures of a junior reporter who will follow stories to the ends of the earth, even though he often finds his own life in jeopardy. His able assistants include a white dog named Snowy, the lunatic Captain Haddock, the muddled genius Professor Calculus and the Thompson Twins.
The project will bring Jackson even closer to DreamWorks, who he had recently made a pact with to create Lovely Bones.
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