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?

Hergé & Tintin original artwork II.

More beautiful original artwork by Hergé is presented this week at auction house 'Artcurial' in Paris, where an immense collection of classic comic artwork is being sold on November 16th. Have a look at these incredible pieces by Hergé below:

Dated August 7, 1971, Hergé's amazing original sketches of page 45 and 46 from 'Flight 714', Tintin's 22th adventure, published between 1966 and 1967 in 'Tintin' magazine. Estimated price for both is € 200.000,- 

For comparison, I put a scan below of the same two pages as they appear in the English translation of 'Flight 714':

Below is page 7B from 'The Castafiore Emerald', the 21st book published weekly between 1961-1962 in Tintin magazine. This half page is estimated at € 50.000 Euros. Again, for reference purposes, I posted the page as it was published in the English translated version below left. As you can see, a lot could change after Hergé had finished sketching his page, as the published version contains many more images, and spreads the story a little more beyond the upper half.

Below is a fragment that is left of page 46 from the same book, 'The Castafiore Emerald', with a pricetag of € 15.000 Euros. Again, check for the differences between the sketched page and the published version (reference below right).

Below, the only part left of the the 174th strip from 'The Secret of the Unicorn', which was published in newspaper 'Le Soir' on January 14, 1943. Very rare, as it doesn't appear in the published comic book today. If you have € 5000,- Euros you can kiss it all day long.

An original inked illustration by Hergé from 1976 for the occasion of the prepublication of 'Tintin and the Picaros' in the Danish magazine 'Billed Bladet'. It appeared on the cover on February 27, 1976. In the magazine, Hergé can be seen signing this cover illustration. 

A publicity drawing done for 'Publiart' in the 1970's and used for 'Salik Jeans'. Yes, I've never heard of them either. But apparently, they were popular in France back then. It is likely that this was done by Studio employees. Below is an original drawing of Professor Calculus.

Hergé & Tintin original artwork.

Some interesting original artwork from Hergé and his studio was recently presented among a collection currently sold through Piasa in France. Interested collectors may enter their bid online on December 1st. If not, well, at least enjoy a look at all this marvelous, classic artwork.

Below are three unpublished original drawings by Hergé which he created while designing Professor Calculus' shark shaped submersible, that would help Tintin in his search for Red Rackham's treasure in the comic book by the same title. The story, published in 'Le Soir' between February and September 1943 first introduced the professor in the series and continued the story that began in 'The Secret of The Unicorn' in 1943. Estimated at € 20.000 Euro.

Here is the original coloring for pages 33 and 34 of  'Tintin en Amérique' or 'Tintin in America', the third comic book in the series, first published in Black & white in 1932 after 'Le Petite Vingtieme' had serialised the story between September 1931 and October 1932. The story was partially redrawn and coloured in 1945 and published in color for the first time a year later.

Two orginal drawings from the story 'L'Île Noire' or 'The Black island, the studio drew for the animated cartoon series created by Belvision between 1959 and 1964. Ten of Hergé's comic books were adapted and serialised, producing an animated series consisting of 103 five minute episodes under direction of Ray Goossens (who also directed the animated feature 'Asterix the Gaul' in 1967). The series was written by popular Belgian artist Greg (Michel Régnier).

Several original sketches and dialogue written by Hergé for Belvision's animated feature 'Tintin and the Temple of the Sun' in 1969, adapted from the thirteenth and fourteenth comic books 'The Seven Crystal Balls' and 'Prisoners of the Sun'. Originally serialised in the Belgian newspaper 'Le Soir' between December 1943 and September 1944, the second part of the story was published in Hergé's official Tintin magazine between September 1946 and April 1948.

More original storyboards by studio members for the animated feature 'Temple of the Sun' and storyboard artwork for the original animated feature 'Tintin and the Land of the Sharks' produced under the supervision of Hergé in 1972, which was the only animated feature not based on any comic books in the series.  

One of several sculptures auctioned, this bronze statue of Tintin is six feet tall (180 cm) and was created in 1976 by Nat Neujean. After an attempted theft it was transferred from it's original spot in Park Wolvendael in Uccle, where it was inaugurated by Hergé, to the local Cultural Center. Estimated at € 180.000 Euros. To see more original work and view all lots, visit Piasa. To read more on Hergé and Tintin's first publications in 'Le Petit Vingtième' go here.

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...

Hergé and 'Le Petit Vingtième'.

Above: covers of 'Le Petit Vingtième' issues 7 and 18 from February 13 and May 1st respectively, carrying Hergé's first Tintin comic adventure 'Tintin in the land of the Soviets'.

Before Georges Remi aka Hergé became famous as the artist and creator of 'Tintin', he worked for the Belgian newspaper 'Le Vingtième Siècle', creating illustrations to go with some of their articles. This was in 1925. Three years later, like so many other newspapers, 'Le Vingtième' started a seperate comics supplement called 'Le Petit Vingtième' and Georges became Editor-in-Chief.

'Le Petit Vingitième' was a small, eight page supplement and started publishing Hergé's first ever 'Tintin' story 'Tintin in the land of the Soviets' ('Tintin au pays des Soviets') in their 11th issue, on January 10, 1929. A year later the magazine would expand to 16 pages and Hergé's introduced his gag strip 'Quick & Flupke'.

The first nine stories of Tintin were published in 'Le Petit Vingtième' until publication of the magazine was halted after May 9th 1940,  when the Nazi's invaded and occupied Belgium. Publication of the last story, 'Land of the Black Gold' ('Tintin au pays de l'oir noir') was never finished.

After the war Tintin got his own comics magazine, which would publish the many other stories Hergé and his studio would create. Studio Hergé was founded in 1950 and it is no secret that much of Tintin's later adventures was drawn by his assistants, Belgian comic masters such as Edgar P. Jacobs and later also by Jacques Martin and Bob de Moor.



Above: After finishing the publication of Tintin's first adventure, the magazine left their fans guessing where Tintin would go next, but a week later showed Tintin amidst the African Jungle. Covers of issues 21 and 22 advertising the start of Herge's second comic story 'Tintin in the Congo', which started in issue 23 of June 5, 1930. In comicbook form, this story would later be renamed 'Tintin in Africa'.

'Flup, Nenesse, Poussette et Cochonnet'.

While Hergé published his first Tintin adventure, he also created a twenty page short story titled 'Flup, Nenesse, Poussette et Cochonnet'. The comic was written by the sports editor of 'Le Vingtième' and was published in the premier issue of the comics supplement, on November 1, 1928 until March 7, 1929.

I had never seen it before and recently stumbled upon this story, at a great French website containing many archived works of Hergé. Unfortunately the owner, Daniel Bellier just recently passed away. If you want to check out or read the original editions of Hergé's comic newspaper publications check out his site http://www.bellier.org (hit the 'entrée' button once you're there).

With gratitude to Bellier's site, check out one of Hergé's first comics below. It's twenty pages (in French), although pages 15/16 are omitted and have not resurfaced yet. Make sure to click the images for a much larger view:

Oscar nominations without 'Tintin'.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially revealed the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards which will be presented Februari 24th. It was a big surprise to see that Steven Spielberg's 'The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn' wasn't even nominated in the category 'Animated Feature Film' while it had just won the Golden Globe on January 15th ('Best Animated Feature Film') and is nominated for a BAFTA award in the category 'Animated Film' along with 'Arthur Christmas' and 'Rango'. The Golden Globes are awarded each year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are usually on par with the outcome of the Oscars.

So, no 'Tintin' but five other animated features will be eligible to receive the Academy award, two of which were also nominated for the Globes:

'A Cat in Paris' directed by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli.
'Chico & Rita' by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal.
'Kung Fu Panda 2' directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
'Puss in Boots' directed by Chris Miller.
'Rango' directed by Gore Verbinski.

It is the first time that Pixar isn't part of the nominated since the category was adopted in 2001. apparently the voters decided 'Cars 2' wasn't really what they expected from Pixar but instead favored the 2D 'tradigitally' animated 'Chico & Rita' and the French 'A Cat in Paris'. 'Tintin', created with motion capture of the actors (just like in 'Avatar') had a tough time. In 2010 the Academy changed the game by stipulating that "motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75% of the picture's running time." Check out the BAFFA rules here.

However, Tintin isn't completely out of the picture, as Spielbergs favorite composer John Williams was nominated for 'Orginal Score' (he is actually nominated twice, also for Spielberg's live action film 'War Horse'). The category Animated shorts also holds five nominations:

'Dimanche/Sunday' directed by Patrick Doyon.
'The Fantastic Flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore' by William Joyce and B. Oldenburg.
'La Luna' directed by Enrico Casarosa.
'A Morning Stroll' directed by Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe.
'Wild Life' directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby.

'The Fantastic Flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore' is based on William Joyce's digital childrens book for the I-pad. In 2007 Disney released the computer animated 'Meet the Robinsons' which was also based on one of Joyce's childrens books ('A day with Wilbur Robinson'). Joyce also worked as character designer and concept artist on 'Toy Story' (1995), 'A Bug's Life' (1998) and 'Robots' (2005).

'A Morning stroll' (left) was created by London based animation Studio AKA. Grant Orchard's short is also nominated for a BAFTA award in the category 'Short Animation'. The BAFTA's will be presented on Sunday February 12th.

'La Luna' is created by Enrico Casarosa, who is head story at Pixar and also worked on 'Cars', 'Cars 2', 'Ratatouille' and Up'. The theatrical short has been in production for two years and will be released on June 22nd along with Pixar's 'Brave'. La Luna is based on Italo Calvino's story 'The distance to the moon' and features a young boy, his father and his grand father on a fishing trip, unaware they are to embark on an exciting lunar adventure.

Like Patrick Doyon's ' Dimanche', 'Wild Life' is also a Canadian animated short.  It is created by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, who already received an Oscar in this category in 1999 for their work on the short 'When the Day Breaks'.  Watch 'Wildlife' and Dimanche/Sunday at Cartoonbrew.

Althought I think it's a real honor for 'Chico & Rita' to receive an Academy Award nomination, I still think a CGI feature will hawk the prize. I'm putting my money on Paramount's first CGI animated feature 'Rango' (all animation is done without motion capture by George Lucas' ILM). Rango was completely awesome. I mean come on, check out this guy, isn't he great ?

<>

James Curran's 'Tintin' title sequence.

Here's something that's been buzzing the web a few days now and it's pretty awesome: James Curran of Slimjim animation & design did a personal title sequence of Spielberg's upcoming 3D animated Tintin movie. Based on the 24 comic books he made references to every book in the unofficial title sequence, which will propably be better than what Spielberg had in mind for the movie (well, still not to late to change that of course!)

The track he used was taken from the terrific score of the animated series 'The Adventures of Tintin' from 1991, which was composed by Ray Parker, Jim Morgan and Tom Szczesniak. If you want to see more from James, go to http://www.slimjimstudios.com. Great work, Jim!