Tintin
Over the past few weeks there have been a number of announcements about comic and graphic novels now set to be adapted for the big screen. One of the most high profile of these is a trilogy based on the Tintin series of comic books by Belgian writer-artist Herge.
Lifelong Tin Tin fans Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson plan to film 3 CGI-animated movies, using motion-capture as a basis for the animation. All digital work will be done by Weta Digital, the special effects studio who worked most famously on Jackson's King Kong and Lord of the Rings series.
According to this recent Ain't It Cool News interview, if Spielberg and Jackson can't find a third director for the third film in the trilogy, they'll probably split the directing duties amongst themselves. And they have a healthy $100 million budget to play with.
I think the big question about a Tintin movie series is how it will capture the imaginations of a 21st Century movie audience? When it comes to iconic European comics and characters, I always gravitated more towards the Roman-and-pirate-bashing adventures of Asterix and Obelix, so admittedly I'm an outsider who is curious about the strength of Tintin fans' passion.
Although the popularity of the character has even sprouted a few character-specific Tintin Shops, do the wholesome red-haired boy journalist-adventurer (and his faithful dog Snowy) still have appeal? Or are the characters and their travels too thoughtful and dull for a MTV generation with goldfish attention spans and general dislike of anything that doesn't have balls-to-the-wall action?
Certainly there will be interest in Tintin from people who grew up reading the books, or watching the definitive animated series (available to own on DVD) but is nostalgia enough of a driving force to get people into cinemas for a grand total of 3 movies?
The first Tintin movie is set for release in 2009.
Lifelong Tin Tin fans Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson plan to film 3 CGI-animated movies, using motion-capture as a basis for the animation. All digital work will be done by Weta Digital, the special effects studio who worked most famously on Jackson's King Kong and Lord of the Rings series.
According to this recent Ain't It Cool News interview, if Spielberg and Jackson can't find a third director for the third film in the trilogy, they'll probably split the directing duties amongst themselves. And they have a healthy $100 million budget to play with.
I think the big question about a Tintin movie series is how it will capture the imaginations of a 21st Century movie audience? When it comes to iconic European comics and characters, I always gravitated more towards the Roman-and-pirate-bashing adventures of Asterix and Obelix, so admittedly I'm an outsider who is curious about the strength of Tintin fans' passion.
Although the popularity of the character has even sprouted a few character-specific Tintin Shops, do the wholesome red-haired boy journalist-adventurer (and his faithful dog Snowy) still have appeal? Or are the characters and their travels too thoughtful and dull for a MTV generation with goldfish attention spans and general dislike of anything that doesn't have balls-to-the-wall action?
Certainly there will be interest in Tintin from people who grew up reading the books, or watching the definitive animated series (available to own on DVD) but is nostalgia enough of a driving force to get people into cinemas for a grand total of 3 movies?
The first Tintin movie is set for release in 2009.
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Ps ..the "Now playing" World of Warcraft..... Awesome :)
Tnarg on the Oceanic Nagrand server ;) ..lol