We have covered various Tintin tattoos before so why not another one:

Once again taken from The Ephemerist

Phthoggos (LiveJournal& FlickR) has put together a sketchbook on FlickR of Tintin drawings by comics artists. It features lots of artist who I don’t recognize but here are a couple I do.

Alex Robinson, writer and artist of the fantastic Box Office Poison:

Bryan Lee O’Malley writes and draws my favourite Canadian manga, Scott Pilgrim

Variety Magazine has stated that Thomas Sangster will not be playing Tintin. Sangster was widely rumoured to have been cast but it was never formally announced. The source of the problem seems to be the delays caused by Dreamwork’s split from Paramount and subsequent funding difficulties. This news appears in passing in a report by columnist Anne Thompson but no sources are given and no one else is reporting this.

More positively, Dreamworks has a distribution deal with Universal in place and Paramount are still keen to fund the films if Spielberg and Jackson cut there fees.

Source: Films up in the air after studios split, DreamWorks/Universal Union Disruptive?

Hollywood Reporter has word that the Paramount / Dreamworks split is moving forward amicably with over 200 projects being split or shared between the two companies. However, Tintin is not one of them:

No decisions have been made regarding “Tintin,” which Spielberg is planning to produce and direct. Paramount had put a $130 million offer, including unspecified financial terms, on the table, but that discussion was set aside while the new arrangement was worked out.

Source: Paramount, DreamWorks split with no grief

There is still a lot of rumor flying around about whether the Tintin movies will get made. As we reported earlier (Tintin Movie in Financial Quagmire) Dreamworks is splitting from Paramount. As Tintin was a joint Universal and Paramount production it was assumed that Universal would pick up the film. However it seems that Universal are not keen on the $130 million price tag or the 30% gross Spielberg and Jackson are demanding.

With a reported $30 million already spent on scripts and pre-production costs, and two of the biggest names in the business wanting to direct, it seems likely that the films will get made. This may just be a negation technique from Universal to get the directorial duo to cut their fees.

Source: Universal Pictures pulls plug on ‘Tintin’

Tintin 3D is in French so I cannot be sure of exactly what the author is doing but it seems they he is finding or making real world objects based on Tintin’s adventures. Here is an example:

The website is full of such images and it is absolutely fascinating.

Personalised Moleskin notebooks with the Cigars of the Pharaoh logo, from the Flickr accout of JJTelecaster. Lovely photo and a great idea. I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a Moleskin.

Source: Tintin Notebooks on The Ephemerist.

Simon Pegg, one of Britain’s leading comedy actors, has a big puff piece in the Sunday Times including an anecdote about meeting Spielberg.

…when he gets a call saying Steven Spielberg would like to meet him.


So he trots over to the motion-capture set for the ET director’s latest project - the first in a trilogy of Tintin movies. Motion-capture sets are bizarre, empty places. The event has been shot and is held in a computerised camera, which allows the director to swoop around the scene. As a result, there is only a computer guy and Spielberg sitting there.


“Steven’s smoking a stogy, cap on head, like he’s always been since I was a baby,” Pegg says, shaking his head in wonder. “I shook his hand and chatted about films. He gave me the mo-cap [motion-capture] camera, and I had a play around with it. Then he said, ‘Hey, maybe you and Nick Frost could play the Thompson Twins.’ In Tintin. A Spielberg movie. To work with him is beyond .. . ” He trails off, lost for words.

Source: Simon Pegg: He’s Mr Popular

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are having problems raising the $130 million budget they need for the Tintin movies.

Originally Universal and Paramount were to fund and distribute the Tintin movies but they are concerned about the profitability of the films. With Spielberg and Jackson both directing and producing all the films, they will take 30% of the gross revenue from the box-office, DVD sales and TV. This means that the films would have to gross $425 million worldwide before the studios saw any profit. For comparison, Mission Impossible II, the 50th highest grossing movie of all time, took about $550 million. Both Spielberg and Jackson have films with considerably higher box-office gross.

The situation is made more complex by Spielberg’s split with Paramount Studio. Spielberg’s production company, Dreamworks, was owned by Paramount but in recent months Spielberg has been attempting to buy back Dreamworks and make it an independent company once again. (See: Possible Legal Problems for the Tintin Movie). This split has now gone ahead without, it seems, the usual Hollywood bitchiness and legal bun fight. The Reliance ADA group, an Indian based conglomerate, has brought half of Dreamworks with Spielberg and other principals in the company buying the rest in a deal worth somewhere between $500 million and $1.2 billion.

What all this hollywood shenanigans means is that the Tintin movies should now get funded and made. Tintin and Red Rackham’s Treasure (or whatever they call the first film) will probably be the first film out from the newly independent Dreamworks.

However, all of this will have delayed production. I suspect that filming of the first Tintin movie won’t start until December now. Though Spielberg may surprise us. His 2002 film, Catch Me If You Can was shot in 147 different locations in only 52 days.

Sources: Spielberg & Jackson Need A Tin Cup For Tintin!, Paramount Pictures releases Steven Spielberg from contract, DreamWorks, Reliance close deal, Top Grossing Movies.

Tintin fan site Objectif Tintin is shutting down tomorrow after Moulinsart sent legal threats over its use of Herge’s art in its logo and other places. Under Belgian law, such usage is legal but Moulinsart is throwing its muscle around more and more. Presumably it wants tight control over Tintin in anticipation of millions of new fans, and dollars, the Tintin movies will bring in.

Source: Tintin site decides to close up shop