Tintin feature film

[AnimWatch]

After a 25-year pitch session, Tintin is heading to the silver screen with a little help from Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks. Let's hope some of the other films we're watching won't take that long in their protracted Hollywood development...

Details at YAHOO (http://fe4.news.re3.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070308/ap_en_mo/film_tintin).

[tokzic]

Looks like Speilberg and Jackson will team up for 3 Tintin movies. Below are some bits and pieces grabed from various news sources.

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are to join forces to direct and produce a series of three-films based on the beloved Belgian comic-strip hero Tintin.

Entertainment journal Daily Variety reports in its Tuesday edition that the legendary film-makers would direct at least one of the films each, and serve as producers on all three.

The report said Tintin had been a long-time pet project for Spielberg, who finally secured the film rights to the comic series in the past 12 months.

Jackson's New Zealand-based WETA Digital had already developed a 20 minute test film which had brought the characters to life.

Spielberg said the computer animation technology used for the films would be unlike anything ever seen.

"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," Spielberg said.

"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 honour the distinctive look of the characters and world that Herge created."

Jackson said although the movies would be computer generated, the characters would not look cartoonish.

"Instead we're making them look photorealistic," Jackson said.

The movies would be made using motion-capture technology.

"The fibers of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people -- but real Herge people."

Spielberg and Jackson have chosen three stories from the 23 Tintin books published between 1929 and 1976.

NICK RODWELL, head of Herge Studios which was set up by Tintin creator GEORGE REMIS in 1950, confirms the company will go into pre-production on a film scheduled for release in 2009.

He says, "If movie number one works, we will continue."

[AnimWatch]

SWEET!

Thanks for the notes, Tok. This is VE-ERY interesting info...

[Zensho!]

"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," Spielberg said.

I dunno why, but this statement really gets my goat. I think it's because it sounds like he's implying that up til now CG characters have been soulless and unemoting.
But then again, he might be referring to only the mocapped schlock. But it sure doesn't sound like it.

Aside from that, this is good news for Tin Tin fans.

[Mathias]

I think thats pr talk to make it sound great for the public. Sort of like when they hyped the human like characters in the first Shrek, where they said they had to stylize them to avoid that they looked "to real", when they aparantly actually steered away from the uncanny valley. Still very interesting info. Im curious how they will translate the Herge characters I'm used to from the books and the earlier animated films.