Anthony Horowitz May Not Be Writing 'Tintin 2' Anymore

Anthony Horowitz, who has been writing the sequel to Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn since 2011 is apparently not working on the movie anymore. He recently commented on twitter, answering a question, that he may have been fired. More below.

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.

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.

Spielberg Talks Tintin 2; "Hoping" for a Christmas 2015 Release

We've been heavily covering every little dribble of news on the sequel to 2011's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, growing bit-by-bit more excited with every titbit. So far, we know the film will introduce Professor Calculus, but that it's likely not based on The Calculus Affair (we also heard that the third film will apparently adapt Prisoners of the Sun). We also heard in December that director Peter Jackson intends to shoot the film's motion-capture during post-production of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug later this year.

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?

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.