What Happened to Spielberg’s Tintin 2?

In 2011 the film The Adventures of Tintin Directed by Steven Spielberg, Produced by Peter Jackson, and written by Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright was released. Based on the bestselling comic strip of the same name by Hergé the film was not a smash hit yet did well at the box office, earning $77 million domestically and $296 million internationally for a worldwide total of $374 million. Originally Spielberg had stated that he would direct the first film and Jackson would direct the follow up with possibly them both co-directing the third film in the trilogy. The Adventures of Tintin was certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 75%, with a film that was a box office and critical success many assumed that the films sequel would be released soon after. However, time went by and the film seemingly disappeared, it has now been over 6 years and we have yet to see the return of ace detective Tintin and his adventurous crew of misfits. So, the question must be asked what happened to the sequel? And is it still in production?

The first reason why Tintin 2 titled Prisoners of the Sun was delayed was due to box office returns, as said above the film made a lot of money, however the film was expected to earn more domestically then it did. With a budget of $135 million the production company was likely hoping for greater earnings here in the states. When a film does not earn as much as wished it is not unexpected when sequel plans are not pushed to the front of the line.

The second reason for the delay is Peter Jacksons schedule. Jackson was not anticipating serving as Director for all three of the Hobbit Prequels and in fact only stepped in at a late stage, the production was then extended when a third film was added to the series. Jackson started work on the first Hobbit film almost immediately after Tintin and then worked solidly on that trilogy till 2014. Both Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are two of Hollywood’s most in demand Director/Producers, just a quick look at both of the men’s IMDB pages will; show how much they both have on their plates. Couple that with the amount of work it takes to film a totally motion capture film that The Adventures of Tintin and it is not hard to see why the film has been delayed.

According to Steven Spielberg The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun is not dead and will in fact be going into pre production very soon with Peter Jackson. In an interview with New Zealand’s Time Out Magazine the acclaimed Director said

Peter was so busy with The Hobbit that it took him away from Tintin and he’s doing another film for my company now. It’s a secret, nobody knows about it. Then after that he’ll do Tintin.

Word is still mum on what the secret film is that Jackson is working on for Amblin entertainment, but he is also working on a film called Mortal Engines due to be released in 2018. It is good to hear that The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun is indeed still to be released, as the series is close to Steven Spielberg’s heart. The Director bought the rights to the beloved comic way back in 1983 and had been trying to get a film adaptation released for many years after that.

With the two men’s schedules it is safe to say we will have to wait a few more years until we see Tintin on screen again, with a likely release date being sometime in 2020.

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