Oh yeah, “The Adventures Of Tintin.” The proposed franchise based around the internationally famed Hergé created character seems even more quaint now, than it did then, especially in the explosion of more muscular series like the Marvel universe has pulled together or fare like the “Fast & Furious” movies. Even the crop of fairy tale reimaginings seem to have a bit more edge. But the power of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson can’t be denied. Even though ‘Tintin’ took in a pretty paltry $77 million at home, worldwide alone it earned nearly $300 million so a sequel is inevitable. The question is: when?
Well, just over a year ago, the game plan was to get the followup in front of cameras sometime in 2013 with a 2015 release date in mind. And that’s still the case. In India to promote “Lincoln,” Spielberg told The Times Of India: “Don’t hold me to it, but we’re hoping the film will come out around Christmas-time in 2015. We know which books we’re making, we can’t share that now but we’re combining two books which were always intended to be combined by Herge,” he said.
The script, by best-selling children’s author Anthony Horowitz, has been in the works for a while. He was originally intending to adapt the story “Prisoners of the Sun,” but the story was later rumored to involve “The Calculus Affair,” possibly incorporating other books as well. And when asked about “The Blue Lotus” — an Asian set story with Tintin fighting drug smugglers — Spielberg told the Times it would “probably” be adapted for the third installment.
So what are some of Spielberg’s other projects? Well, on the producing front via DreamWorks, he’s looking to tackle the Moby Dick of biopics. “DreamWorks-Reliance is also planning a movie on Martin Luther King Jr. I wouldn’t call it a biopic, it’s more a story of King and the movement and also about how his admiration for Mahatma Gandhi helped to shape his moral core,” he explained. Of course, Paul Greengrass his own MLK movie “Memphis” brewing, but it had previously run into trouble with the late civil rights leader’s estate, though from the sounds of it, Spielberg’s pic is far less controversial.
Also on deck is a potential movie shot in Pakistan. “We have finalized a script for a movie that DreamWorks and our partners Reliance Entertainment plan to make together. Part of it will take place on the India-Pakistan border in Kashmir. But we’re still trying to figure out the casting, locations and who’s going to direct it,” he said. No word yet on what that one is about.
Of course, when all these things will happen remains to be seen, but ‘Tintin’ seems the most solid of the three. But we’d wager that the sequel starting by the end of the year will depend on how far along Peter Jackson is with “The Hobbit” films (the third one was recently pushed back), as he’s slated to direct. But Spielberg is hopeful, so we’ll see.
