Tintin coming soon

Peter Jackson will put his Smeagol tech to use for Stephen Spielberg soon. Variety says the directing duo is teaming up to produce a movie based on a popular Belgian comic-strip hero called Tintin. No, it’s not about a faithful German Shepherd. Created by French artist Herge, the comic follows the adventures a young Belgian reporter named Tintin, accompanied his loyal mutt Snowy. You knew there had to be a dog in there somewhere. It’s one of the most popular comics of the 20th century… over in Europe… and in the 1930s… which probably explains why I’ve never heard of it. But if you’re 110, this is probably about as exciting for you as the idea of someone making Norman Rockwell: The Saturday Evening Movie. There’s an idea who’s time has come, don’t you think?

They’re planning three back to back Tintin features and in addition to producing all three, Jackson and Spielberg plan to direct at least one of the movies each. WETA Workshop’s Gollum gadgets will be put to use doing extensive motion capture work for the films, which will apparently be computer animated. Spielberg says, “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.” Don’t worry though, this won’t mean another delay for Peter Jackson’s long gestating little Lovely Bones movie and it won’t mean more waiting for Indiana Jones 4. Instead, this will be the thing Jackson and Spielberg do after.