While I have only a vague knowledge of the source material, I’m really surprised at the amount of big-time Hollywood involvement in the planned movie trilogy. Spielberg and Peter Jackson are producing, Spielberg is directing the first film and Jackson the second.
I just don’t see how this is going to be anything but an epic fail. Do modern audiences really want to see a movie trilogy based on this? Or is this more of an overseas aimed project?
Edit: Here’s Wikipedia’s article on the Tintin comic and here’s an article about the film.
You do realize that, conceptually, most movies and Tintin are disturbingly similar, right? They could very well pull this off by giving it a “gritty” varnish for a modern audience. Whether that leads to a good movie being made is another question entirely.
Hmm. Motion captured actors in a 3D animated world. Weird.
The originals are wonderful, but there’s something quiet and measured about them. If the filmmakers can resist the temptation to pump everything up (which is basically unavoidable to appeal to modern audiences), the films could be faithful adaptations.
So they’ll probably be interesting, but have little in common with the originals.
I’m sorry… Tintin & gritty don’t belong together! Not sure exactly how they will translate the distinctive art style, but the animated series was pretty faithful to the original material.
There is a huge European market where this character is almost as recognizable as Micky Mouse.
Granted some of the stories have dated a bit, but with a few tweaks, it could easily be made more accessible, and overall they are great “boys own” adventure stories!
So yes, I definitely think this could work as a movie and I’m not really surprised to see some high profile people on board. Unfortunately the comic books haven’t really been that successful in cracking the American market, which might be because they don’t really fit in with the weekly superhero comics genre (speculating a bit here.)
The international market alone should be enough to make these movies financially viable, and with a bit of good marketing, they might manage capture a good chunk of the US imagination as well.
After the latest Indy debacle I’m a bit worried about Spielberg though. I know that Lucas probably played a large part in that mess, but still, when was the last time he’s actually directed a fun adventure type movie?? (Jurassic Park?) Hopefully Jackson will be a better influence on him!
In Tintin in Kongo Tintin slays and flays an ape to wear it’s skin, like some simian buffalo bill. Tintin was gritty decades before silence of the lambs.
I don’t understand why this couldn’t work as a movie.
I don’t think that’s an entirely fair comment. He certainly drew minorities in a stereotypical shorthand, but he’s very respectful to myriad different cultures.
True. The most egregious examples are mainly limited to the early adventures e.g. The Blue Lotus, the original Cigars of the Pharaoh, and Tintin au Congo (which was cleaned up in its French form, and scrubbed again before finally being translated to English a few years ago). Even then, Herge had a pretty sensitive portrayal of the Chinese culture in BL (the Imperial Japanese… not so much), and was sympathetic to the Indians of Tintin in America.
In the later books, I don’t think you can complain about his treatment of the African Muslim slaves in The Red Sea Sharks (‘Coke in Stock’), the well-researched Tintin in Tibet, or his cynical look at South American revolutions in Tintin at the Picaros.
Unfortunately I keep thinking of Rin Tin Tin every time I hear about this and think it’s going to be another dumb dog movie. It’s never going to go over well in the states I fear.
I loved Tintin as a kid, and reading the books in the original French helped me to learn French in high school. I would definitely think about seeing these if they were made into films.
I’ve never had as much fun as I did while I read the Moon expedition series. I got the same impression from the launch scene in this movie. Keep in mind, the rest of the series was excellent, while the launch scene was the only redeeming feature of the movie.
To those across the pond who may not be familiar with Tintin, I think it’s important to understand that this isn’t simply “a popular European comic book series”. It is the comic book series. Hergé is to Euro-comics what J.R.R. Tolkien is to fantasy novels.
I think a straightforward and direct adaptation, without pushing it into the current day, without modern pop culture references, following the comic characters as closely as possible would be quite doable – and it would be possible to do it well, though of course this is unlikely from Hollywood. How well it would sell I have no idea.
But some stupid 21st century version would be a horror.
