It’s been well over a decade since “Indiana Jones” filmmaker Steven Spielberg and “The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson teamed up to bring us “The Adventures of Tintin.” Based on the works of Hergé, it was an ambitious motion-capture adaptation of the “Tintin” comics that was intended to be the start of a full-fledged franchise. Spielberg directed the first installment, with Jackson expected to direct the sequel. Sadly, that sequel never came. So, what happened exactly? And is the movie still going to happen?
Last we heard about “Tintin 2” was way back in 2018 when Spielberg, who was in the midst of promoting “Ready Player One,” suggested that it was still going to happen. Or, at the very least, that he still wanted it to happen. Here’s what Spielberg had to say about it at the time:
“Peter Jackson has to do the second part. Normally, if all goes well, he will soon start working on the script. As it takes two years of animation work on the film, for you, I would not expect to see it for about three years. But Peter will stick to it. Tintin is not dead!”
Now, unfortunately, the pandemic came around in early 2020 and completely disrupted all of Hollywood’s plans. In some ways, the industry is still recovering. That certainly didn’t help matters any and may well have delayed — if not outright canceled — any plans that Paramount, Jackson, or Spielberg had for the sequel. However, in a June 2024 interview at the Annecy Film Festival, Jackson’s frequent collaborator Andy Serkis told journalist Alexandre Loos “Peter Jackson is definitely still working on [the ‘Tintin’ sequel].” So there may well be hope yet.
The Adventures of Tintin was a hit – but not a big enough hit
“As soon as I’m free of The Hobbit, I’ll be going back into doing ‘Tintin,'” Jackson said of the “Tintin” sequel in December 2013. It was held up by ‘The Hobbit,’ but we have every intention of doing another ‘Tintin’ movie and it’s just waiting on me to be done with these ‘Hobbit’ movies.”
Jackson, after finishing his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was eventually pulled in to tackle “The Hobbit” as well, culminating in 2014’s “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” But that was a decade ago. In the meantime, Jackson has kept himself busy with documentaries like “They Shall Not Grow Old” and “The Beatles: Get Back.” Plus, he’s set to produce Serkis’ new “Lord of the Rings” movie “The Hunt for Gollum.” Does he even have time for a new “Tintin” movie? More importantly, is this even still viable?
The first film saw Tintin and his dog Snowy racing to uncover the secrets of a sunken ship that may hold a vast fortune, as well as an ancient curse. It takes inspiration from the stories “The Crab with the Golden Claws,” “The Secret of the Unicorn,” and “Red Rackham’s Treasure.” The stellar ensemble included the likes of Jamie Bell (“Rocketman”), Daniel Craig (“Skyfall”), Nick Frost (“Hot Fuzz”), Simon Pegg (“Shaun of the Dead”), and Serkis.
At the very least, there are plenty of Hergé’s tales left to adapt for the screen. The bigger problem is that “The Adventures of Tintin” was successful, yes, but not successful enough for Paramount to rush a sequel into production. The film made $374 million worldwide against a $135 million budget. That’s certainly good, but a sequel would probably be more expensive. Plus, so much time has passed that the audience who once cared may have largely moved on. So who knows? Maybe the proposed live-action “Tintin” reboot will end up happening instead. Maybe Jackson will find a way to make this happen after all. For now though, nothing is concrete and the project remains in limbo.
“The Adventures of Tintin” is available on VOD and Blu-ray/DVD from Amazon.
