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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Spielberg's First 'Tintin' Trailer Amazes


Stephen Spielberg has been trying to bring the adventures of the little mystery solver/explorer/adventurer Tintin to the big screen for years and it’s finally happening. This Christmas The Adventures of Tintin will finally be brought to the big screen as an animated film, Spielberg’s first as a director.

Spielberg originally intended to create a live-action film, but was talked into an animated film by Peter Jackson who Spielberg originally went to for special effects work. Thus was born Tintin’s motion-capture beginnings, which Spielberg feels will help maintain the look and feel of Hergé’s (the pen name of Belgian artist Georges Rémi) original art.

Motion capture has hit hard times after the disastrous performance of Mars Needs Moms—that $150 Million films only grossed $22 Million domestically. After the film opened, Disney closed down Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers Digital. This seemed to signal an end to motion-picture filmmaking as none of Zemeckis’ animated films have seemed to be wholly embraced by the public: Monster House ($73 Million), The Polar Express (Budget $165 Million, Domestic Gross: $162 Million), Beowulf (Budget: $150 Million, Domestic Gross: $82 Million), and A Christmas Carol (Budget: $200 Million , Domestic Gross: $138 Million).

But I think it’s the films and not the technology. Spielberg is going to get his shot at presenting a story that is near and dear to him. Judging from the brief teaser trailer released this week, this movie looks to be an animated version of what Spielberg has does best: amaze.

Tintin was a series of comic strips, first printed in 1929, that became an international hit and spawned a large number of magazines that were eventually adapted into various mediums (most notably for American audiences as an animated import that ran on HBO).

The Adventures of Tintin features the voice work of Jamie Bell as the title character, Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Cary Elwes, and Toby Jones. The film hits theater on December 28, 2011.


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