Children To Stop Reading Another Book Series In Favor Of Viewing Aggressively Marketed Films
Spielberg’s DreamWorks moves to bring cartoon hero Tintin to the big screenBy RAF CASERT - Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — It was a quarter-century in the making but then again, nothing is easy for cartoon heroes such as Tintin.
Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks, a division of Viacom Inc., has committed to produce at least one movie about the adventures of the intrepid Belgian reporter, said Nick Rodwell, head of Moulinsart NV, Tintin’s commercial studio, on Thursday.
“After 25 years, they finally said, ‘OK, let’s go,”’ Rodwell said of the protracted talks with Spielberg. In an interview with The Associated Press, Rodwell said the Hollywood company will go into preproduction for a movie, which should appear in theaters in about two years.
It wasn’t clear whether the film would be cartoon animation, computer animation or a movie with actors, or which of the 24 cartoon books of Tintin’s adventures would be picked.
“If movie No. 1 works, we will continue,” Rodwell said.
Talks about a Hollywood movie on Tintin, who saves the lives of countless people and makes sure criminals end up behind bars, have long stalled on financial issues and production questions.
The first plan surfaced just before Tintin’s creator, Georges Remi, aka Herge, died in 1983. Even at that time, Remi, one of the world’s foremost cartoon strip authors, delighted in Hollywood’s interest.
“If Steven Spielberg wants to make a Tintin film I cannot imagine anything better,” Rodwell said of Remi’s thoughts, and he fully realized that a movie adaptation might well change the way Tintin looks.
“Let’s see what he comes up with,” Rodwell said.
Tintin books have sold 220 million copies worldwide and have been translated in 77 languages.
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Well, we'll have to see what develops. I know Spielberg's been interested in making a Tintin film for a long time, so it makes sense that he'd land it eventually. I'd love to see a 2-D animated feature, but I have a feeling that's the least likely of the options (i.e, 2-D animation, live-action, or 3-D animation). The graphic novels are beloved all over the world (and rightly so), but I wonder if they're too violent for a PG-13, family-friendly American film.
Labels: comics, dreamworks, film, film industry, georges remi, herge, spielberg, tintin
posted by Jeff Pidgeon at
10:08 PM
4 Comments:
Well, There goes the Jonny Quest movie.
Oh, I don't think that's true. Just because it has similarities doesn't mean Warners won't make Quest. In fact, if Tintin is a big hit, I think there's more of a chance it'll get made.
The tough part - and Tintin has this too, to a lesser degree - will be all the drinking, gunplay and ethnic stereotyping that riddles the Quests' adventures.
There was already a pretty faithful animated TinTin series on television 10 or so years back, so I'm guessing this will be live action.
Out of all of these touchy comic/cartoon adaptation projects, the one I think is going to suffer the most is still The Spirit, which newbie "director" Frank Miller promises will be "serious, not tongue-in-cheek like the source."
And: "He did say he will try to fit as many femme fatales as possible in the movie. However, the controversial (some would say racist) character Ebony White will be gone in the movie."
this is where I found that, if you're interested:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=347319
I've only seen tiny bits of the TV series. From what I remember, the drawings were nicely on-model, but the movement and acting weren't very strong.
I still think animating it in 2-D would be the best way - I can't imagine finding a real person who looks like Tintin. I guess it's possible, though.
As for The Spirit, I don't think I want to see the Frank Miller version. I didn't like Sin City, and I think the Spirit movie might be too close to it for my taste.
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