The Tintin Sequel Could Start Shooting in 2016 Says Jamie Bell

Currently promoting the new Fantastic Four movie, where he plays the Thing, Jamie Bell teased the sequel to Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. The English actor who played the titular character in the 2011 movie says shooting for the film could begin in 2016. More below.

New Tintin in 2052. No, Not the Peter Jackson Movie.

Tintin's final appearance in the unfinished Tintin and Alph-Art.

All my Tintinophile life I've been thinking that there was never going to be any new Tintin album. Ever. And I was okay with that. How couldn't I be? I was born two years after Hergé's death, and there was never a doubt in my mind that The Adventures of Tintin were over for good.
So I never asked myself: do I want another Tintin album?
That changed this past Monday, when a Nick Rodwell (head of Moulinsart, the society which owns all Tintin rights) interview was published in Le Monde and Le Soir. In that interview, for the first time ever, Nick Rodwell evokes the possibility of a new Tintin album. In 2052.

Do I want it? How could I not want a new Tintin story, being the huge Tintin fan that I am? I always want more Tintin. More Tintin is good, right? Despite Hergé's wish that there shouldn't be any new comic book featuring the Belgian reporter after his death, I can't help but want more.
So why am I not excited by this news? Why a new Tintin story in 2052? Why this announcement now? Those are three different questions, and each one of them deserves a specific answer.

Field Report: Tintin and Hergé in Brussels

Introduction
As a huge Tintin fan, I felt it was my duty to go back to Brussels, visit some of the places featured in the books and see the Hergé Museum. Why go back? Well, I already went to Brussels, but not as a Tintin fan. I always liked it, but was not a Tintinophile forever. Interestingly enough, I believe I became a Tintinophile on the way back from my first Brussels trip, as a teenager. That's when I read the unfinished book Tintin and Alph-Art for the first time, and became interested in the Belgian reporter again.
Therefore, this trip was a first for me. It was the first time I went to Brussels as a Tintinophile. As I'm sure there are other Tintinophiles out there who can't go to Belgium, I'll share what kind of experience it is to be there, as a fan of Tintin. So, get ready to go on an adventure, as I guide you through the streets of Brussels!

The Tintin Sequels: Speculation - Characters and Actors

Introduction
Since the secrecy surrounding the sequel to The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn seems to be absolute, and clues given by screenwriter Anthony Horowitz, director Peter Jackson and producer Steven Spielberg are, at best, misleading, why not have some fun and speculate a little?
What I plan to do here is compile a list of characters I'd like to see in the Tintin sequels.
This will not just be a list, as that would not be very interesting; I will also do a brief presentation of each character, consider the probability of their appearance in the sequels, and ponder which actor could portray them. Warning: as this is my dream-casting, expect to see big name actors, even for the smallest parts.
Let's go!

William Talking Toy Story 2 With The Rotoscopers

Continuing my recent podcast tour (you can check out my guest appearances on The Scotty Jo Podcast here and here), I was very happy to be welcomed onto The Rotoscopers' Animation Addicts Podcast last week, talking about my favourite animated film, Toy Story 2. The episode is available now, and you can download it from iTunes, or listen to it here.

Damien Talks Tintin 2 Possibilities

By Damien.

Here's what we know so far about the Tintin sequel. Months of research, tweets addressed to the writer Anthony Horowitz, hours of deciphering from top scientists, quotes from Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg gathered here and there, guessing what's trolling and what's the truth, nights of dreaming about it, and a lot of waiting.

And this is where all this pain and suffering has led us: here are my theories on the Tintin sequels.

Damien Reviews The Art of The Adventures of Tintin

By Damien.

A (Very) Late Review

It's not often that I receive 'Art of' books before I actually get to see the film it's based on. It happened three times: with Cars 2, Brave, and The Adventures of Tintin. With both Pixar flicks, I managed put off opening the book until I'd seen the film.
But with this one, curiosity got the best out of me, and I surrendered pretty quickly to my Tintin nerdiness.

UPDATED: Damien Presents A Full and Comprehensive List of Tintin Easter Eggs in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

By Damien.

Also known as 'The Big One'

Introduction

Before we start, I'll explain my intentions here. My objective is to deliver the ultimate list of nods to the Tintin books in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. As the movie is based on The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure, these three albums won't be used as reference for the search of Tintin easter eggs, except for very specific ones - otherwise, I would have to make screenshots of almost the whole film.

Written in blue, you will also find book to film comparisons of characters. Just the opposite of the nods list, these comparisons will focus exclusively on characters from The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure books. Not everyone will be treated. Only the characters I find the most interesting.

Warning: you shouldn't read this article if you've not seen the movie, as there will be massive spoilers ahead. Pretty much the same thing can be said about the books.

All right, shall we begin?

Peter Jackson to Shoot Tintin 2 Mid-Hobbit, for 2015 Release

Bleeding Cool (via RTBF) has some interesting new details about Tintin 2 - mainly, when we can expect to see it. During his press tour for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (which is freaking great by the way!), Peter Jackson - who co-produced the first Tintin movie, and is directing the second - fielded a couple of questions about the hotly anticipated sequel.

Jackson's subsequent two Hobbit films will be released around this time next year and then mid-2014 respectively, so one might worry that the sequel to Steven Spielberg's 2011 adaptation of Hergé's intrepid reporter might be a while off. But worry no longer, Jackson is meeting with scribe Anthony Horowitz "next week", and will set aside some time during The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug's post-production to shoot the mo-cap for the film, with a view towards a 2015 release.

Exciting news indeed, and this hopefully means that the follow-up to 2011's Best Animated Film A113Animation Award winner isn't too far off.

The question on everybody's mind though: Will The Adventures of Tintin 2 be 3 hours long?

Guest Editorial: How Spielberg is Saving Tintin

By Damien

Let's begin with a little history.

It all started in 1981. Raiders of the Lost Ark had just been released in France and Steven Spielberg wanted to know how well his movie was doing among French critics.
Amazingly well would be my guess. But something in a number of reviews captured his eye. A word kept coming back. Tintin. What is Tintin? wondered the filmmaker. He soon learned what it was, and became a fan.

UPDATED - Peter Jackson on Tintin 2!

The Hobbit director dressed as Captain Haddock.

Friend of the blog and our resident Tintin expert, Damien, shared an interesting interview today, an interview with Tintin 2 director, Peter Jackson. The director, who produced the first Tintin film, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, and who is currently directing the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, spoke to Salon about not being a superhero fan and his tastes in comic books. This, inevitably, led to talking about Hergé's Tintin and the film's based on it.

Steven Spielberg directed the first film, and is set to produce the sequel - written by Stormbreaker author, Anthony Horowitz. Of the sequel, Jackson told Salon that it will be:

“slightly less of a rollicking adventure and something a bit more, a little bit more of a sort of espionage type of story. So it’s a slight tone shift, which I think will be good.”

Well, that narrows the list of possibilities a bit. The obvious choice, in terms of espionage type stories - that introduces Professor Calculus - would be The Calculus Affair, but Anthony Horowitz told us on Twitter last month that we shouldn't "put too much money on that". Of course, it's entirely possible that Horowitz was just trying to throw us off the scent - as there's not that many other stories that fit the espionage mould. The Black Island (one of Peter Jackson's favourite Tintin adventures) or King Ottokar's Sceptre are also possibilities, but references to those adventures appeared as newspaper clippings on Tintin's wall in the first film, so who knows.

Basically, we're no closer to knowing than we were before - if anything we're further away - but it sure gets you excited for the film!

We also now have a better idea of when we can expect to see Tintin 2, as Jackson also stated in the interview that he hopes to spend five or six weeks in 2013 doing the mo-cap for the film - when he's winding the second part of The Hobbit. That would seem, factoring in animation time, to place a Tintin 2 release in late 2015 or early/mid 2016.

It seems such a long way off...

Be sure to check out the full interview for more, including talk about possibly bringing in another director for Tintin 3.

UPDATED

Anthony Horowitz just told us on Twitter that "The clippings are irrelevant." So, this opens the field up. Given that The Calculus Affair was said to be ruled out (although, it could still be a bluff), and that we now know that the stories on the wall in the first film are still possibilities, The Black Island is looking very likely!

A great story that is sufficiently far removed from the globe-trotting Indiana Jones-esque nature of the first film, to shake things up a bit tonally, should make a brilliant film. And we know Jackson likes animated gorillas after his King Kong remake!

Keep visiting A113Animation for more Tintin 2 news as it happens!

Exclusive: Tintin 2 Details, "I'm not sure I'd put too much money on [Calculus Affair]"

Last month, Stormbreaker author and Tintin 2 screenwriter, Anthony Horowitz, told this blog on Twitter, that, in Tintin 2 "You can expect to meet Cuthbert Calculus." This sparked some debate and consideration as to what books the sequel to last year's hit would be based on.

At the time I theorised an adaptation of one of the later Tintin books, the Calculus-centric, The Calculus Affair. Since then my idea expanded somewhat; I thought perhaps a combination of this and Red Rackham's Treasure - which the first film drew from slightly. However, when I proposed my theory on Twitter, Horowitz replied "I'm not sure I'd put too much money on that."

A double bluff? Maybe. But it certainly sparks more thought on the matter. Assuming that Horowitz isn't trying to throw us off the scent, we now know what Tintin 2 isn't based on. Horowitz also told BBC a while back "I think the second film is not going to be Prisoners of the Sun", adding though that "The good news is if [Prisoners Of The Sun] is not the second film it'll be the third film so actually I could end up with two Tintins under my belt."

So, given that that effectively rules out 3 books, and rule out also The Crab with the Golden Claws and Secret of the Unicorn - on which the first film was based - and factor in that, in the first film, Tintin's walls were adorned by newspaper clippings touting his previous success in various adventures, adventures that happened in Tintin in the Congo/Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharoh, The Broken Ear and King Ottokar's Sceptre, then we have a reduced list of 15 books. Add to that that it's unlikely to be the rudimentary and oft-called insensitive Land of the Soviets or the unfinished Alpha-Art, and we're down to 13.

The Calculus Affair does seem somewhat unlikely in retrospect; why would Tintin and Captain Haddock (particularly Haddock) risk their lives to help save someone they barely knew? So, what are we left with? I discussed this with friend of the blog and our resident Tintin consultant, Damien, on Twitter, and we're in agreement that it still seems likely Red Rackham's Treasure - or elements of it - will be used. It's such a good introduction for the character, that it makes a lot of sense to borrow from it. The Moon books seem a little sci-fi-esque and too far removed from the first film to be fitting, and after the controversy surrounding Indiana Jones 4, it seems unlikely Steven Spielberg would opt for the alien infused Flight 714 - although elements of that could also be effectively used.

Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit), co-producer of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and director of Tintin 2, said several times that The Black Island was one of his favourite Tintin adventures, so that is a strong possibility. But, the crux of this is: although we now have a better idea of what the film might be (or at least might not be) we're still a way off knowing for sure.

Tintin 2 is tentatively scheduled for release in 2014/2015.

UPDATE:

Damien pointed out that there is a newspaper clipping referencing The Black Island in the first film, so that probably rules that out as well.

And then there were 12...

Tintin 2: "You can expect to meet Cuthbert Calculus."

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Steven Spielberg's long gestating big screen version of Hergé's famed boy journalist stories, arrived in cinemas last year, and its success (my review here) is evident by the great news we've heard thus far from its upcoming sequel.

The original film, penned by the talented trio of Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat and Joe Cornish, was based on three Tintin books: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure, but Tintin 2 is taking a slightly different direction. This time around the film, directed now by Peter Jackson, will be written by Stormbreaker author, Anthony Horowitz, and he today shed some light on what we can expect from the second Tintin film.

It was long rumoured that the second film would be based on the Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun stories, but this has since been denied (shame), and no other suggestions have been really confirmed. However, today, Horowitz told this blog on Twitter, that in Tintin 2 we "can expect to meet Cuthbert Calculus". The first film introduced us to Tintin (Jamie Bell), Snowy and Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), so Professor Calculus, the hard-of-hearing genius, is the last main big character we've still be introduced to.


So, given that we can now rule out Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun, and given that it's also very unlikely to pick up immediately where Secret of the Unicorn left off (effectively ruling out a continuation of Red Rackham's Treasure), the last obvious choice is The Calculus Affair. The Calculus Affair, one of the later Tintin stories, sees Tintin, Haddock and Snowy travelling across the globe to rescue an abducted Professor Cuthbert Calculus; with some fiddling with the story and continuity, this could act as a very effective introduction for the beloved character.

We've heard rumours of this in the past, but it's nice to have some more solid confirmation.

Oh, and yes, I am now a huge Tintin fan.

Rango Takes Home a BAFTA

Although the presentation of the award appears to have been cut from the broadcast of the 65th British Academy Film Awards, earlier today the BAFTA for Best Animated Film was awarded to Paramount and Nickelodeon's Rango. The Gore Verbinski directed animated western is the favourite heading into the 84th Annual Academy Awards in two weeks' time and this is a huge honour for the film.

Rango beat out Steven Spielberg's mo-cap adventure, The Adventures of Tintin and the British film, Arthur Christmas. Check out the full BAFTA results here.

39th Annual Annie Awards Results

Saturday was the 39th Annual Annie Awards, honouring the greatest achievements in animation over the past year. Following on from a controversial year last year, where DreamWorks' How to Train your Dragon swept the ceremony, this year it was Nickelodeon and Paramount's Rango that topped the ceremony, winning 5 awards.

The animated western story of lonely and eponymous chameleon, Rango, is the frontrunner for the Animated Oscar this year, and beat out DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, as well as Pixar's Cars 2 and others to scoop the top prize at this year's Annies. The Gore Verbinski directed film also took home awards, including Editing and Writing in a Feature Production.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson took home the award for Best Director for Kung Fu Panda 2, and there were awards handed to The Adventures of Tintin, Winnie the Pooh and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

For a full list of winners, click here.

84th Academy Awards Nominations Revealed

Earlier today, the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards (to be hosted by Billy Crystal) were announced. The reveal, as expected, saw a glut of nominations for Martin Scorsese's Hugo (11 nominations) and silent film (and Best Picture frontrunner) The Artist (10 nominations), however it also saw some controversial decisions, and the animation category was no exception.

The nominees for Best Animated film are:

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico & Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

Now, the Academy does often throw some lesser known, critical hits into the mix, so it shouldn't be too great a surprise that Chico & Rita and A Cat in Paris have cropped up. However, what is somewhat of a surprise, is the omission of The Adventures of Tintin. This isn't simply due to personal preference (although I think you all know by now how much I enjoyed Tintin) but Tintin recently took home the Golden Globe and the Producers Guild Award in the same category - as well as being nominated for the BAFTA - so the Oscar omission is somewhat bizarre. Also of note is the absence of a Pixar film on the list - the first time since the award's conception in 2001 that the Emeryville studio haven't snagged a nomination - and whilst it isn't too great a surprise to see Cars 2 missed off (although it would definitely have been deserving in my eyes), it is weird to not see Pixar as a frontrunner this year.

It now seems likely that Nickelodeon and ILM's Rango will take home the coveted prize, although I'd like to see DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 get some recognition.

Also, in terms of animation, the nominations for Best Animated Short Film are:

• Dimanche (Sunday)
• The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
• La Luna
• A Morning Stroll
• Wild Life

Whilst it's a shame that the Looney Tunes short, I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat didn't make the cut, it's nice to see Pixar get at least some presence at the show.

Also, 'Real in Rio' from Blue Sky Studios' Rio is one of only two nominations for Best Original Song this year - competing with 'Man or Muppet' from Disney's The Muppets.

This year's Oscars will be broadcast from the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood on February 26.

Tintin Wins Producers Guild Award

Yesterday, The Adventures of Tintin took home the animation award at the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards. Producers Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy were awarded the honour, beating out other top contenders Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and Rango.

Following on from the film's success at the 69th Annual Golden Globes last week, this certainly bodes well for Tintin's Oscar chances (nominations to be revealed tomorrow). The film, which won our very own 2nd Annual A113Animation Award for Best Animated Film, seems to be getting the recognition it deserves this awards season, and it look as if its main competition for the Oscar will be Nickelodeon's Rango.

2012 BAFTA Nominations Revealed

The nominations for the 65th annual Orange British Academy Film Awards were revealed this morning. Silent film and Oscar front-runner The Artist leads nominations with 12, whereas British spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy follows with 11. In terms of animation though, the nominees for the BAFTA for Animated Film are:

• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
• Arthur Christmas
• Rango

It's unsurprising to see Arthur Christmas - from British giants Aardman - Globes winner, Tintin and awards favourite this year, Rango favoured by the BAFTAs; but it's a shame DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 couldn't snag a nomination. We'll find out the results on 12 February on BBC One - hosted by Stephen Fry, the awards emenate from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. For a full list of nominations, click here.

Tintin Winwins at the Globes

If you can excuse my shameful pun one moment: yes, The Adventures of Tintin took home the Best Animated Feature Film award at the 69th Annual Golden Globes last night.

The high-octane, globe trotting film, based on the acclaimed books by Hergé, scooped the top A113Animation Award here a few weeks ago, and the HFPA clearly loved it too. Director Steven Spielberg (top) was on hand to collect the award.

This year's Globes marks the first time since the category's inception in 2006, that a non-Pixar film has won the award. Tintin is a very deserving film to unthrone Pixar, and it deserves all the praise it's getting.

2011 Producers Guild Awards Nominations

The nominations for the 23rd Annual Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards were recently announced. The nominations for the theatrical animated feature category this year are below, with the respective producers noted.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

CARS 2
Producer: Denise Ream

KUNG FU PANDA 2
Producer: Melissa Cobb

PUSS IN BOOTS
Producers: Joe M. Aguilar, Latifa Ouaou

RANGO
Producers: John B. Carls, Gore Verbinski

The winners will be announced on January 21.