Tintin Drama
You know… this project has been sitting around for over 25 year in the Amblin back pocket. It hasn’t just sat there because it was an obvious green light.
Universal neither needs to make the gamble on Tintin. The studio is under threat of being sold by GE and remembers suffering from PJ-creep on King Kong. (I think the world of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, but must admit that they raise budgets during production more cleanly and more effectively than any filmmaker of their generation). Plus, the history of converting Euro-faves to American faves and US-obscure comics in general has not been good – nor do they have the freedom to invest quite that much quite that easily.
But you can expect this project to be greenlit by Paramount – if they can get the money together – because they need it. It may seem that DreamWorks exiting Par would make the deal harder to make, but the bottom line is that Paramount needs to fill a pipeline that is about to be half-emptied and dramatically emptied of high profile projects. Spielberg and Jackson would be a good way for Grey and Lesher to float the boat for another year of “but Tintin is coming.” Of course, if they are smart, they will take the international part of the revenues or force a 50/50 worldwide split no matter who distributes domestic or foreign.
Likewise, if MGM is going to prove that they actually have the money to fund major studio pictures, this is a chance to jump in.
Of course, there is the very real possibility that it just won’t get studio funding. Of course, if Spielberg just took his money from Indy 4 and pu tit on the table… hmmmm…
Would you give Steven Spielberg more money after watching drivel like WAR OF THE WORLDS and especially the latest, incoherent, tepidly paced, scripted, shot, edited and scored INDIANA JONES sequel?
And as much as I enjoyed KING KONG – a stylish, period adventure with moments of brilliance – it was still an overlong, bloated, expensive $200 million misfire.
Offering hundreds of millions to Spielberg and Jackson for a property that is mostly known and loved in Europe (mostly during its heyday in the 1960/1970s – and I am a big fan) does not exactly ring of potential blockbuster status.
The article also states that Paramount has already sunk 30 million of pre-production costs which is contributing to the $130 million budget.
Universal had the same problem with the first version of the hulk in the late 90’s. The development debt gets so deep you almost have to greenlight the project.
I’ll step into the inevitable Spielberg directing debate and say that WOTW was in my top ten of 2005 and Indiana Jones IV will be in my top twenty (near the bottom) of this year.
I was bored at Indiana Jones but War of the Worlds was awesome. End of the world stories are my favorites, and to have a director like Spielberg doing one…gotta love it.
Spielberg is having an interisting day: here’s THE REAL news of the day:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aH9ihjkzGsw8&refer=news
This movie would easily make at least as much as King Kong did worldwide and that would put it in the green. I admit I love the idea and I absolutely cannot wait till it finally comes out. And I think it will. Spielberg won’t let this one go.
Also, Indy 4 will be in my top 5.
When I read a while back about Tintin I distinctly remember sitting down and spending 15 minutes on Wikipedia reminding myself who/what the hell Tintin was. Then I spent another 10 trying to fathom how this could be of interest to any studio in America let alone some big name directors. I mean, why not just make a Babar movie?
I would wager that Babar is more popular than Tintin in America. Mind you, it would not be a very large wager. Maybe a Hawaii quarter and a Nebraska quarter.
I don’t believe Spielberg has had the rights to Tintin for 25 years, but rather that Spielberg has been trying to GET the rights for 25 years, and only recently succeeded. It’s not an easy license to get.
And nobody here seems to be considering the foreign appeal of Tintin. If Mr Bean can get a $200mil foreign gross on both of his movies, then Tintin, which is *far* more deeply ingrained in Europe(and not unpopular elsewhere) is a potential goldmine.
Also it’s more popular in the US than you guys seem to think. It’s been in more or less continuous English publication *my* entire life(30 years), and Barnes and Noble doesn’t stock multiple copies at any given time in their stores because it *doesn’t* sell.
But then again I remember around the end of April everyone on this blog except for IOIOIO and myself saying that nobody in America knew or gave a crap about Iron Man, too. Not exactly equivalent and I’m not saying we’re seers but it ought to remind you guys that you do *not* necessarily know what the American audience wants to see.
Good call Triple P…I would never have guessed that.
Also, I’m guessing Speilberg had his eyes on Tintin and doesn’t like to say “no” once he’s set his sights on something.
I have never heard of Tintin ever….
OK, just Wiki’d it. Nope, 35 years old, consider myself pretty plugged in to just about everything in pop culture… no recollection of seeing or hearing about this at any point anywhere in the world.
Well, there’re no temporarily popular hot chicks in the Tintin series, LexG.
Yeah, Lex, saying you haven’t heard of Tintin is about the same as saying ‘Who’s this Virginia Woolf chick? Sounds gnarly.”
I think the better question is, Who cares about Tintin? Most people vaguely recognize the name and might recognize the character, but is anyone really antsy for that character to come back into the culture? It’s like movie-makers these days have become miners, just digging up old shit hoping it will be box office gold.
I think it should be greenlit, just not for the full $130 million. Let Speilberg and Jackson put up some of their own money.
Could pull in Iron Man numbers.
Could also be the new “Popeye”-looking at Mojo it made almost $50 million in 1980 dollars, so not so bad.
“I was bored at Indiana Jones but War of the Worlds was awesome. End of the world stories are my favorites, and to have a director like Spielberg doing one…gotta love it.”
I love end of the world stories too, but War of the Worlds wasn’t an end of the world story. Despite being quite maligned, I’d say the final ten minutes of The Terminator 3 were a better example of “end of the world” if you ask me. That movie ends on a big downer, yet Spielberg’s gets a happy ending with every single main character still alive and well and, hey, even the expensive townhouse is still standing!
Lex, didn’t American TV somewhere screen the Tintin cartoons? They were great fun when I was younger. Maybe if you stopped bangin’ on about how much so-and-so owns then you’d know about one of the most famous book series ever.
yes, kam, i was just about to mention the brilliant ‘adventures of tintin’ cartoons (a canadian production from the looks of it), my boy has the entire dvd box set and i don’t mind telling you they are very entertaining. the intrepid boyish investigative reporter, great mysteries/adventures and locales, unique characters in tintin, snowy, professor calculus, the dumbass detectives, and capt. haddock for comic relief (blistering barnacles!). a lot of work has already gone into previs for the first one and the boy from ‘love actually’ sangster has been cast as ‘tintin’, so is it really dead in the water or just stalled with someone pulling on the engine rope?
(for the record, i didn’t like ‘war of the worlds’ either, the ending with the son was an absurdity beyond compare. one can only suspend one’s disbelief so far and then it falls to the ground and breaks it’s ass)
As a european, I can tell you that a properly made Tintin movie is going to be absolutely ENORMOUS everywhere in Europe.
I’m 30 years old, grew up with the comics and the cartoons (as did all my friends), as well as my father and his generation, and it’s being passed on to our kids as we speak (my little nephews LOVE Tintin). My bet is that it would be reasonably big in the US, on Spielberg/PJ name recognition if nothing else, and a MONSTER hit throughout Europe (can’t guess on Asia), more than enough to make it a big success.
An end of the world move can still have a happy ending…that doesn’t keep it from being an end of the world movie.
End of the world movies with happy endings: Shaun of the Dead, Day of the Dead, original War of the Worlds, Day of the Triffids, Signs, etc.
Also, I agree that the ending wasn’t the greatest, but two minutes at the end of a movie isn’t going to make me hate the 95% of greatness that came before it.
i can relate to that, perm. a crappy ending, while disappointing, doesn’t necessarily ruin the entire movie for me if i was really into it, but ‘war of the worlds’ just never grabbed me so the irksome finish was the nail in the coffin for me.
sadly, i think i’ve become far too accustomed to lame endings, so often is the finish of a movie the weakest part. the mark of a truly great movie is one that grabs you and never really lets go even when you step out into the light, no? furthermore, a terrific finish can make a good movie great (‘blair witch project’ comes to mind).
35 years old like a motherfucker and still swear up and down I’VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER; Who watches cartoons after 9 years old, other than complete douchebags
ANIMATION IS FUCKING BULLSHIT. MAN THE FUCK UP AND WATCH SOME VIOLENT SHIT WHERE PEOPLE GET FUCKED UP.
Perhaps someday we can parse the difference between the different species of douchebag who watch animation too much (these people exist but usually they’re into tentacle porn) and the types of douchebag who are in need of constant cinematic reaffirmation of their manliness through action movies.
By the way, it sounds like they want to make Tintin in a manner similar to Beowulf, a violent, lousy animated movie.
I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BUT JOLIE’S PIXELATED ASS GAVE ME A BONER AND MADE THAT OTHERWISE FUCKED-ASS MOVIE INTO MORE LIKE BONERWOLF OR SOME SHIT.
ALSO RAY WINSTONE IS YOUR GOD, BOW DOWN TO HIM BECAUSE HE COMMANDS YOUR ASSES ALL WEAK MOTHERFUCKERS, LISTEN TO SOME FUCKING METAL AND ADMIT THAT MAN IS HIS OWN KREATOR BE YOUR OWN GOD, FUCK YEAH.
DRINKING OWNS, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP POLAND.
BE GOD.