Sony, Paramount Financing Tintin
Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson Adapting Hergé Cartoon For Film
Nov 3, 2008
Paramount and Sony have confirmed that they are in talks to jointly finance Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's motion-capture adaptation of Tintin.
According to Variety, the two studios are in discussions to jointly produce one movie based on the classic comic books by Belgian artist Hergé (real name Georges Remi).
Neither studio would comment, but both confirmed that they are in negotiations with Spielberg and each other to co-finance a single film. WETA Digital, which did the FX work for Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, will handle the motion-capture for the flick.
In the proposed deal, Paramount will distribute the Tintin movie in North America and certain other English-speaking markets, while Sony will distribute the flick to the rest of the world. DreamWorks, Spielberg's company with David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, will not be associated with the film.
Tintin's Troubled History
It hasn't been easy for Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to get their Tintin trilogy off the ground. Spielberg and long-time producer Kathleen Kennedy first bought the movie rights in 1983, shortly after Hergé died. However, he was unable to find a script that appealed to him so he let the rights lapse. Warner Bros. negotiated for the rights to Tintin for several years, hoping to secure them for either Roman Polanski or Claude Berri, but the studio wasn't willing to keep the "creative integrity" that the Hergé Foundation demanded for the project.
In 2002, Spielberg regained the movie rights, and recruited Jackson, a long-time fan of the comics. The original concept was for a trilogy, with Spielberg and Jackson directing the first 2 films respectively, and then handing it off to an as-yet unknown director for the 3rd flick. Spielberg and Jackson have entertained the idea of co-directing the 3rd Tintin film, should it come to pass.
However, their handpicked scriptwriter, Stephen Moffat, bailed the trilogy in order to become the showrunner for the BBC television series Dr. Who. Moffat did furnish them with the script for the first movie which, according to the Hollywood Reporter, is based on two Hergé books, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure (first published in 1943 and 1944 respectively).
Then the project became a casualty of the Paramount-Dreamworks divorce, which has resulted in Spielberg, along with Geffen and Katzenberg, walking away from their distribution deal with the studio. David Geffen has since resigned from the board of Katzenberg's company, DreamWorks Animation.
Spielberg approached Universal for financing, but Universal balked at financing a $130 million film. Negotiations collapsed in October, which resulted in actor Thomas Sangster (their choice to voice the title character) leaving the project. Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Lord of the Rings and Kong in King Kong, is still confirmed as Captain Haddock.
Spielberg and Jackson then balked at Paramount's 2nd offer, which would have given both directors $135 million in back end revenue. At that point, Sony was brought on board in order to reduce the risk.
Spielberg and Jackson are still hoping for a 2010 release for the first Tintin film.
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