Welcome Back, Tintin!

The sequel to The Adventures of Tintin is a go!

Peter Jackson recently stated that he will begin working on it after he finishes up The Hobbit trilogy (presumably in mid-2014), adding that his return to the Middle Earth saga held him up a bit. At one point in time, it was certain that the film would be a 2015 release, but with The Hobbit being expanded into a three-part film series that ended up with a late 2014 conclusion, it seemed like it would miss the planned 2015 date. Also, several big events started to crowd up 2015… Little films like, you know… The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: Episode VII, Batman vs. Superman/Crossover Clusterf*ck...

Then it seemed like it wouldn't happen for a long while because Jackson said weeks and weeks ago that he was going to quit the big-budget blockbuster scene and focus on smaller-scale projects. Well, I didn't think Tintin 2 would disappear just like that. Since it was successful, they couldn't wait too long to give us the sequel. Spielberg also insisted not too long ago that it would be out by late 2015, so he's certainly hoping it'll get made soon.

/Film's Russ Fincher suggests that it will be released sometime after summer 2016, which is a given at this rate. 2016 would be a better place for it, presumably sometime in the autumn. Maybe October, where it's not crammed between blockbuster and animated competition. In North America, the first film was thrown into a box office battlefield with very little marketing (Paramount was giving all of the marketing love to Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol) behind it, but off of that very weak opening came a solid $77 million gross, proving it had good word of mouth - even with family-friendly competition in its way, like the third Chipmunks movie. Thankfully, the film was a box office hit overseas.

With studios slowly but surely announcing 2016 releases, Paramount could reveal The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun's release date sometime soon. Maybe.

What do you think?

No Tintin 2?

Peter Jackson, in an interview with the New Zealand Herald, stated that after The Hobbit trilogy wraps up, he will be going small-scale...

"We just want to step off the Hollywood blockbuster thing for a while and we’ve had a few New Zealand stories in line for a while that we think would make great films. The Heavenly Creatures mode really. But one thing has led to another and we have never had time. We’ve made a conscious decision that in the limited years we have left to make movies to tell some New Zealand stories..."

As Russ Fischer of /Film pointed out, what does this mean for the sequel to The Adventures of Tintin? Jackson is set to direct that sequel, which should be a 2015 release, but if he's going to ditch the big blockbuster scene for a good while, the sequel may be no more... Unless they get a new director. Maybe Spielberg will find himself returning to the director's chair for the second outing.

Not much has been said about the film for a while, leading me to believe that it might not make it to 2015. In hindsight, it doesn't seem like it will since Jackson will finally finish The Hobbit's final installment sometime in mid-2014. I don't think this will give him enough time for a 2015 Tintin sequel, plus with his recent comments, it seems like the film indeed won't happen for a while... Under his watch, that is.

Again, it's very possible that they'll get another director or bring back Spielberg. I'm just glad that Paramount is still willing to put out a sequel. Tintin was no smash domestically, but it inevitably took off overseas, as the film did gross a good $373 million against its $135 million budget. It was a more profitable film than Paramount's other non-DreamWorks animation release that year, Rango, which did meet their expectations.

I hope a decision is made soon, because Tintin's sequel will be long overdue by 2015...