Big Screen Adventures of Tintin
Production Set to Begin on Three of the Classic Herge Tales
Feb 17, 2008
Steven Spielberg actually bought the film rights to the Tintin series shortly before Herge’s death in 1983 but it took until 2007 before concrete work on the films began. Believing that a live-action film would not do justice to the Tintin characters, Spielberg has opted to make a trilogy of performance-capture animated features with the first being directed by Spielberg himself, the second by Peter Jackson once work on The Lovely Bones is completed, and the third by another, as yet unnamed, director.
The only actor confirmed so far is performance-capture pioneer Andy Serkis and it is rumoured that he’ll be playing Captain Haddock. In the March issue of Empire Magazine, Serkis confirmed that some shooting will be done in March, with full production beginning in September 2008.
Although the story details of the films have not been confirmed, British Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat has been named as the script writer for all three films and it is widely believed that he will take his inspiration from Herge’s three double-bill stories.
The Secret of the Unicorn/Red Rackham’s Treasure
Tintin purchases a model ship as a gift for Captain Haddock and is shocked to discover that it is in fact a replica of the Unicorn, the ship sailed by the Captain’s ancestor Sir Francis Haddock. When Snowy accidentally breaks the ship’s mast, an old parchment is revealed that leads Tintin to two more models of the Unicorn and the fabled treasure of the pirate Red Rackham.
With the clues they discovered in The Secret of the Unicorn, Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy, aided by Thomson and Thompson and Professor Calculus, set sail to a mysterious tropical island in the hopes of discovering Red Rackham’s treasure.
The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun
One by one, seven explorers recently returned from Peru and the tomb of the great Inca Rascar Capac suffer from an unexplained illness and beside the prone body of each of them there are fragments of a crystal ball. Tintin and Captain Haddock are soon on the case and, after the disappearance of the Inca mummy and the kidnapping of Professor Calculus, set off for South America to solve the mystery.
Once in Peru, Tintin and the Captain discover that everyone fears the curse of the Incas and so they travel high into the Andes to seek out the Temple of the Sun, only to end up as captives facing a terrible end.
Destination Moon/Explorers on the Moon
Professor Calculus summons Tintin and Captain Haddock to the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre where he is working on the development of the first space rocket. Fearing sabotage by an enemy spy, Calculus asks Tintin and Haddock to accompany him on the journey to the moon.
The flight to the moon was dangerous but nothing compared to the difficulties that face Tintin, Haddock and Calculus once the rocket has safely landed.
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