The Adventures of Tintin premiered at the UGC De Brouckère inBrussels on 22 October 2011, and was released in New Zealand on 26 October and in the United States on 21 December by Paramount. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the motion-capture animation, faithful character designs, visual effects, action sequences, cast performances and musical score, and grossed $374 million against a $135 million budget, and received numerous awards and nominations, including being the first motion-captured animated film to win theGolden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, whileJohn Williams was nominated for anAcademy Award forBest Original Score. A sequel directed by Jackson has been announced but has since stalled indevelopment hell.
In apost-warBrussels, young journalistTintin browses an outdoor market with his pet dogSnowy, and purchases amodel of a ship known as theUnicorn. He is then accosted by anInterpol officer namedBarnaby and a ship collector namedIvan Ivanovitch Sakharine, who both unsuccessfully attempt to purchase the model from Tintin. After Tintin takes the model home to his apartment, it gets accidentally broken during a chase between Snowy and a cat. A parchment scroll then slips out and rolls under a piece of furniture. Meanwhile, bumbling police detectivesThomson and Thompson are on the trail of apickpocket namedAristides Silk.
After visiting Maritime Library to uncover the history surrounding theUnicorn, Tintin returns to find theUnicorn stolen. Suspecting Sakharine, he heads toMarlinspike Hall and accuses him of the theft, but noticing Sakharine's model is not broken he realizes there are twoUnicorn models. Tintin then returns home to his apartment to find it ransacked. Snowy shows him the scroll, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Barnaby, who is then assassinated while attempting to recover theUnicorn. Tintin places the scroll in his wallet, but is pickpocketed by Silk the next morning.
Later, Tintin is abducted and imprisoned by accomplices of Sakharine on the SSKaraboudjan. He learns that Sakharine formed an alliance with the ship's staff and led amutiny to take control. On board, Tintin meetsArchibald Haddock, the ship's captain who is permanently drunk and unaware of most of his past. Tintin, Haddock and Snowy eventually outrun the crew, escape from theKaraboudjan in a lifeboat, and attempt to use a second one to fake their deaths, but Sakharine sees through the ruse and sends aseaplane to find and capture them. Feeling cold and thirsty on the lifeboat ride, Haddock foolishly uses a stowaway bottle of whisky to light a fire in the boat, accidentally causing a massive explosion that flips the boat upside down and leaves the trio stranded on top of it. The trio seizes the plane, and uses it to fly towards the fictitiousMoroccan port ofBagghar. However, the seaplane crashes in a desert due to low fuel and a thunderstorm.
While trekking through the desert, Haddock hallucinates and remembers his ancestor,Sir Francis Haddock, the 17th-century captain of theUnicorn whose treasure-laden ship was attacked by the crew of a pirate ship, led byRed Rackham, later revealed to be Sakharine's ancestor. Sir Francis surrendered and eventually sank theUnicorn and most of the treasure, to prevent it from falling into Rackham's hands. The story implies there were threeUnicorn models, each containing a scroll; together, the scrolls can reveal coordinates of the location of the sunkenUnicorn and its treasure.
Thomson and Thompson arrive in Bagghar and give Tintin back his wallet and the first scroll, having apprehended Silk. The third model and scroll is possessed byOmar ben Salaad, which Sakharine steals during aBianca Castafiore concert. A chase through the city ensues during which Sakharine gains all the scrolls. Just as he is ready to give up, Tintin is persuaded by Haddock to continue. With the help from Thomson and Thompson, Tintin and Haddock track Sakharine back to Brussels and set up a trap, but Sakharine uses his pistol to resist arrest. When his men fail to save him, Sakharine challenges Haddock to a sword fight with the cranes at the dock. Sakharine threatens to destroy the scrolls after Haddock corners him, but Tintin manages to snatch them from him. After the fight, Sakharine is pushed overboard by Haddock and then arrested by Thomson and Thompson.
Tintin, Haddock and Snowy are guided by the three scrolls back to Marlinspike Hall. In the cellar, Haddock notes a globe with an island he knows does not exist and presses it, causing the globe to open and reveal some of the treasure that Sir Francis had managed to recover along with his hat and a clue to theUnicorn's location. The film ends with both men agreeing to set up an expedition to find the shipwreck and the rest of the treasure.
Jamie Bell asTintin.[6] Bell replacedThomas Brodie-Sangster, who dropped out when filming was delayed in October 2008.[7] Jackson suggested Bell to take on the role after previously casting him as Jimmy in hisKing Kong remake.[8]
Andy Serkis asCaptain Archibald Haddock andSir Francis Haddock.[9] Spielberg suggested Serkis, given he playedGollum in Jackson'sThe Lord of the Rings trilogy andKing Kong in the 2005 remake, which were both roles requiringmotion capture, and also because he considers Serkis a "great and funny actor".[10] Serkis joked he was concerned Jackson wanted him to play Tintin's dog, Snowy,[11] who was animated traditionally, i.e., without motion capture.[12] Serkis remarked upon reading the comics again for the role that they had a surrealPythonesque quality.[13] The actor researched seamen, and gave Haddock a Scottish accent as he felt the character had "a rawness, an emotional availability, a more Celtic kind of feel".[10]
Daniel Craig asIvan Ivanovitch Sakharine, the main antagonist and descendant ofRed Rackham; and Red Rackham the pirate who attacked theUnicorn, the ship captained by Sir Francis Haddock.[6] Spielberg described Sakharine as a "champagne villain, cruel when he has to be but with a certain elegance to him". Jackson and Spielberg decided to promote Sakharine from a relatively minor character to the villain, and while considering an "interesting actor" to portray him, Spielberg came up with Craig, with whom he had worked onMunich. Craig joked he followed "the English tradition of playing bad guys".[10]
Nick Frost andSimon Pegg asThomson and Thompson respectively, bumbling police detectives who are almost identical despite not being related. The duo was invited out of necessity to have a comedy team that could act identical.[10] Spielberg invited Pegg to the set and offered him the role after he had completedHow to Lose Friends & Alienate People.[14]
Joe Starr asBarnaby Dawes, an Interpol agent who tries to warn Tintin about purchasing theUnicorn and ends up being shot by Sakharine's thugs on Tintin's doorstep.
Kim Stengel asBianca Castafiore, a comical opera singer. While Castafiore was absent from the three stories, Jackson said she was added for her status as an "iconic character" and because she would be a fun element of the plot.[10]Renée Fleming provides the singing voice for Castafiore.
Cary Elwes andPhillip Rhys as French seaplane pilots working for Sakharine. Elwes came across Spielberg in the cereal aisle of a grocery store shortly after Spielberg visitedRobert Zemeckis on theA Christmas Carol set and persuaded Spielberg to cast him on the film due to being a hugeTintin fan. Spielberg appreciated Elwes' devotion to the franchise and cast him as one of the pilots because they were the last of the parts to be cast, which Elwes gratefully accepted regardless of its size because being part of the film meant so much for him.[17]
Nathan Meister as a Market artist who bears a resemblance toHergé.
We're making them look photorealistic; the fibres of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people—but real Hergé people!
Jackson, a longtime fan of the comics,[28] had usedmotion capture inThe Lord of the Rings andKing Kong; he suggested that a live-action adaptation would not do justice to the comic books and that motion capture was instead the best way of representing Hergé's world of Tintin.[26] A week of filming took place in November 2006 inPlaya Vista, Los Angeles on the stage whereJames Cameron shotAvatar.[29]Andy Serkis had been cast, while Jackson stood in for Tintin.[13] During the shoot, Cameron andRobert Zemeckis were present.[26] The footage was transmitted to Weta Digital,[29] who produced a 20-minute test reel that depicted photorealistic characters.[27] Spielberg said he would not mind filming it digitally because he saw it as an animated film, and reiterated his live-action work would always be filmed traditionally.[30] Lead designer Chris Guise visited Brussels to see the inspiration for Hergé's sceneries.[31]
An official announcement about the collaboration was made in May 2007, although both filmmakers had to wait to film it: Spielberg was preparingIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull while Jackson was planningThe Lovely Bones.[27] Spielberg had considered two books to become the main story,The Crab with the Golden Claws andThe Secret of the Unicorn, with the main plot eventually following the latter and its immediate sequel,Red Rackham's Treasure. Jackson felt the former's story "wasn't really robust enough to sustain a feature film", but the filmmakers still included elements from the comic, such as theKaraboudjan and the first meeting of Tintin and Haddock. Spielberg invitedEdgar Wright to write the script for the film, but Wright was busy and instead recommended other names, includingSteven Moffat.[32] In October 2007, Moffat joined as the screenwriter for two of theTintin films.[33] Moffat said he was "love bombed" by Spielberg into accepting the offer to write the films, with the director promising to shield him from studio interference with his writing.[34] Moffat finished one draft, but not another due to the2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. He then became executive producer ofDoctor Who, and was allowed to leave by Spielberg and Jackson.[35] Wright then returned and agreed to take over the script alongsideJoe Cornish, a fan ofTintin with whom Wright was working at the time. After two drafts of the script, Wright left to begin filmingScott Pilgrim vs. the World., while Cornish stayed on to finish the script under the guidance of Spielberg and Jackson.[32]
More filming took place in March 2008.[13] However, that August (a month before principal photography would have begun), Universal turned down their option to co-produce due to the poor box office performances of recent motion-captured animated films such asMonster House andBeowulf, as well as Spielberg and Jackson's request for a combined 30% of the gross.[36]Paramount Pictures (DreamWorks' distributor) had hoped to partner with Universal on the project, having spent $30 million on pre-production. Spielberg gave a ten-minute presentation of footage, hoping they would approve filming to begin in October. Paramount, along with their subsidiaryNickelodeon Movies, offered to produce as long as the directors found a studio that was willing to co-produce the film: Spielberg and Jackson agreed,[7][20] and by the end of October negotiated withSony'sColumbia Pictures to co-finance and distribute the first film internationally.[37][38][39] Sony only agreed to finance two films, though Jackson said a third may still happen.[26]
Principal photography began in Los Angeles on 26 January 2009; the release date was pushed from 2010 to 2011.[6] Spielberg finished his film—after 32 days of shooting—in March 2009. Jackson was present for the first week of filming and supervised the rest of the shoot via abespokevideoconferencing program.[28] Simon Pegg said Jackson's voice would "be coming over theTannoy like God".[40] During filming, various directors, includingGuillermo del Toro,Stephen Daldry andDavid Fincher visited. Spielberg wanted to treat the film like live-action, moving his camera around.[26] He revealed: "Every movie I made, up untilTintin, I always kept one eye closed when I've been framing a shot", because he wanted to see the movie in 2-D, the way viewers would. "OnTintin, I have both of my eyes open".[41] Jackson took the hands-on approach to directing Weta Digital during post-production, which Spielberg supervised through video conferencing.[8] Spielberg said "there will be no cell phones, no TV sets, no modern cars. Just timeless Europe".[42] His frequent collaborator and cinematographerJanusz Kamiński served as lighting consultant for Weta, and Jackson said the film would look "film noirish, very atmospheric". Spielberg finished six weeks of additional motion-capture filming in mid-July 2009.[26][43] Post production was finished in September 2011.[44] From the very beginning to the very end, the film took a total of seven years in production.
To improve the quality of the indoor lighting nuances, Weta Digital and NVIDIA developed a piece ofray tracing software called PantaRay, which requires 100 to 1,000 times more computation than traditional shadow-map based solutions.[45] For the performance of "Snowy", various models served as a reference for actors on-set, manipulated by property master Brad Elliott. According to animators, Snowy was the hardest character to animate and develop, due to the type of coat he has as well as being white. Later, a dog's motion was captured digitally so the animators had inspiration for realistic movements. His vocal effects were taken from various breeds of dogs.[46]
John Williams composed the musical score forThe Adventures of Tintin. It was the first time Williams had composed the score of a film since 2008'sIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,[47] as well as his first score for an animated film. Most of the score was written while the animation was still in the early stages, with Williams seeking to employ "the oldDisney technique of doing music first and have the animators trying to follow what the music is doing". Eventually, several cues had to be revised during the editing of the film. The composer decided to employ various musical styles, with "1920s, 1930s European jazz" for the opening credits and "pirate music" for the battle at sea.[48] The score was released on 21 October 2011 bySony Classical Records.[49]
Steven Spielberg and a costumed character of Tintin at the film'spremiere in Paris, 22 October 2011.
The film's first press-screening was held in Belgium on 10 October 2011.[50] The world première was held in Brussels, Belgium on 22 October 2011—attended byPrincess Astrid and her younger daughters,Princess Luisa Maria andPrincess Laetitia Maria, with the Paris première later the same day.[51] Sony later released the film during late October and early November 2011 in Europe, Latin America and India. The film was released inQuebec on 9 December.[52] Paramount distributed the film in Asia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and all other English-speaking territories. They released the film in the United States on 21 December.[53][54]
On 13 March 2012,Paramount Home Entertainment releasedThe Adventures of Tintin on DVD andBlu-ray. Both formats of the film were also released as combo packs, with each pack including 11 behind-the-scenes featurettes.[57] During its first week,The Adventures of Tintin Blu-ray was the number-one-selling HD movie after selling 504,000 units and generating $11.09 million in sales.[58] The film was also the second-highest-selling home media seller during its first week, with 50% of its profits coming from its Blu-ray market.[59]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 75% of 236 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.00/10. The website's consensus reads: "Drawing deep from the classicRaiders of the Lost Ark playbook, Steven Spielberg has crafted another spirited, thrilling adventure in the form ofTintin."[60]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[61] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[62]
Colin Covert of theStar Tribune gave the film four stars out of four and said that Spielberg's first venture into animation was his most delightful dose of pure entertainment sinceRaiders of the Lost Ark.[63] Amy Biancolli of theSan Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Such are the timeless joys of the books (and now the movie), this sparkling absurdity and knack for buckling swash under the worst of circumstances. The boy may have the world's strangestcowlick, but he sure can roll with the punches".[64]Roger Ebert ofChicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, calling it "an ambitious and lively caper, miles smarter than your average 3-D family film". He praised the setting of the film, stating its similarity to the originalTintin comic strips and was also pleased with the 3-D technology used in the film, saying that "Spielberg employed it as an enhancement to 2-D instead of an attention-grabbing gimmick".[65]Peter Travers ofRolling Stone also gave the film three and a half stars out of four and wrote: "The movie comes at you in a whoosh, like a volcano of creative ideas in full eruption. Presented as the first part of a trilogy produced by Spielberg and Peter Jackson,The Adventures of Tintin hits home for the kid in all of us who wants to bust out and run free".[66]Kenneth Turan ofLos Angeles Times said: "Think ofThe Adventures of Tintin as a song of innocence and experience, able to combine a sweet sense of childlike wonder and pureness of heart with the most worldly and sophisticated of modern technology. More than anything, it's just a whole lot of fun".[67]
Richard Corliss ofTime wrote: "Motion capture, which transforms actors into cartoon characters in a vividly animated landscape, is the technique Spielberg has been waiting for—the Christmas gift … that he's dreamed of since his movie childhood".[68] Jordan Mintzer ofThe Hollywood Reporter was also very positive about the film, describing it as "a good ol' fashioned adventure flick that hearkens back to the filmmaker's action-packed, tongue-in-cheek swashbucklers of the 1980s. Steven Spielberg'sThe Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a visually dazzling adaptation". Comparing it with another film, Mintzer saidTintin has "an altogether more successful mocap experience than earlier efforts likeThe Polar Express".[69]
Belgian newspaperLe Soir's film critics Daniel Couvreur and Nicolas Crousse called the film "a great popular adventure movie", stating "[the film's] enthusiasm and childhood spirit are unreservedly infectious".[70]Le Figaro praised the film, considering it to be "crammed with action, humor and suspense".[71] Leslie Felperin ofVariety wrote: "Clearly rejuvenated by his collaboration with producer Peter Jackson, and blessed with a smart script and the best craftsmanship money can buy, Spielberg has fashioned a whiz-bang thrill ride that's largely faithful to the wholesome spirit of his source but still appealing to younger, Tintin-challengedauds".[72]
La Libre Belgique was, however, a little less enthusiastic; its film critic Alain Lorfèvre called the film "a technical success, [with] a Tintin vivid as it should be [and] a somewhat excessive Haddock".[50]The Guardian's Xan Brooks gave the film two stars out of five, stating: "While the big set pieces are often exuberantly handled, the human details are sorely wanting. How curious that Hergé achieved more expression with his use of ink-spot eyes and humble line drawings than a bank of computers and an army of animators were able to achieve".[73]Blog Critics writer Ross Miller said: "Author Hergé's wonderfully bold and diverse array of characters are a mixed bag when it comes to how they've been translated to the big-screen" and that while the mystery might be "perfectly serviceable for film ... the execution of it at times feels languid and stodgy, like it's stumbling along from one eye-catching setpiece to the next". However, he summed it up as "an enjoyable watch with some spectacular set-pieces, lavish visuals and some fine motion-capture performances".[74]
Tom McCarthy, the author of a study of the Tintin books, described Hollywood's treatment in this film of its characters and stories as "truly execrable", stating that it ignores the books' key idea of inauthenticity. The themes of fakeness and phoniness and counterfeit that drive many of the original plots are replaced in the film with messages that feel "as though we have wandered into a seminar onmonetisation through self-empowerment … It's like making a biopic ofNietzsche that depicts him as a born-again Christian, or ofGandhi as a trigger-happyRambo blasting his way through theRaj".[75]
Steve Rose fromThe Guardian wrote about one of the film's major criticisms: thatThe Adventures of Tintin, much likeThe Polar Express, crossed into theuncanny valley, thereby rendering Tintin "too human and not human at all".[76]Manohla Dargis, one of the chief critics ofThe New York Times, called the movie "a marvel of gee-wizardry and a night's entertainment that can feel like a lifetime". The simplicity of the comic strip, she wrote, is a crucial part of the success of Tintin, who is "an avatar for armchair adventurers". Dargis noted that Tintin's appearance in the film "resembled Hergé's creation, yet was eerily different as if, likePinocchio, his transformation into human form had been prematurely interrupted". Another major fault in the film, Dargis opines, is how it is overworked; she writes that there is "hardly a moment of downtime, a chance to catch your breath or contemplate the tension between the animated Expressionism and the photo-realist flourishes". Nevertheless, she singles out some of the "interludes of cinematic delight", approving of the visual imagination employed within the movie's numerous exciting scenes.[77]
The Adventures of Tintin grossed $77,591,831 in North America and $296,402,120 in other territories for a worldwide total of $373,993,951.[5]
In the United States, it is one of only 12 feature films to be released in over 3,000 theaters and still improve on its box office performance in its second weekend, increasing 17.6% from $9,720,993 to $11,436,160.[80] On its first day, the film opened in the UK, France and Belgium, earning $8.6 million. In Belgium, Tintin's country of origin, the film made $520,000, while France provided $4.6 million, a number higher than other similar Wednesday debuts.[81] In France, it was the second-best debut of the year for its first day afterHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.[82] On its first weekend it topped the overseas box office with $56.2 million from 21 countries.[83] In Belgium, it earned $1.99 million. It also earned the top spot in many major markets like France and theMaghreb region ($21 million), where it set a record opening weekend for an animated title; the UK, Ireland and Malta ($10.9 million), Germany ($4.71 million) and Spain ($3.75 million).[84][85][86] It retained first place for a second consecutive and final weekend, earning $39.0 million from 45 territories.[87] In its native Belgium it was up 20% to $2.39 million, while in France it plummeted 61% to $8.42 million. Its biggest debut was in Russia and theCIS ($4.81 million).[88][89]
The film grossed₹7.5 crore (US$890,000) on its opening weekend (11–13 November 2011) in India, an all-time record for a Spielberg film and for an animated feature in India. The film was released with 351 prints, the largest-ever release for an animated film.[90][91][92] In four weeks, it became the highest-grossing animated film of all time in the country with₹25.4 crore (US$3.0 million).[93]
Jackson announced that he would direct the sequel once he had finishedThe Hobbit trilogy.[120] Two years beforeThe Secret of the Unicorn, Jackson mentioned that his favoriteTintin stories wereThe Seven Crystal Balls,Prisoners of the Sun,The Black Island, andThe Calculus Affair, but he had not yet decided which stories would form the basis of the second film. He added "it would be great" to useDestination Moon andExplorers on the Moon for a third or fourth film in the series.[122]
By the timeThe Secret of the Unicorn was released, Spielberg said the book that would form the sequel had been chosen and that the Thomson and Thompson detectives would "have a much bigger role".[123] The sequel would be produced by Spielberg and directed by Jackson.[123] Kennedy said the script might be completed by February or March 2012 and motion-captured in summer 2012, so that the film would be on track to be released by Christmas 2014 or mid-2015.[124]
In the months following the release ofThe Secret of the Unicorn, Spielberg revealed that a story outline for the sequel had been completed and that it was based on two books.[125] Horowitztweeted thatProfessor Calculus would be introduced in the sequel.[126][127] During a press tour in Belgium forThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Jackson said he intended to shoot performance-capture in 2013, aiming for a release date in 2015.[128]
In March 2013, Spielberg said: "Don't hold me to it, but we're hoping the film will come out around Christmas-time in 2015. We know which books we're making, we can't share that now but we're combining two books which were always intended to be combined by Hergé". He refused to confirm the names of the books, but saidThe Blue Lotus would probably be the thirdTintin film.[129] In December 2014, when Jackson was asked if theTintin sequel would be his next project afterThe Hobbit trilogy, he said that it would be made "at some point soon", but he added that he wanted to direct two New Zealand films before that.[130]
In June 2015, Bell stated that the sequel was titledTintin and the Temple of the Sun and that he hoped shooting would begin in early 2016 for a possible release by the end of 2017 or early 2018.[131] Later in November, Horowitz said that he was no longer working on the sequel, and did not know if it was still being made,[132] and in March 2016, he confirmed that the script he had written for the sequel had been scrapped.[133]
In March 2016,Scout.co.nz announced that Jackson would produce the sequel rather than direct. The website also announced that a thirdTintin film was in development, with Jackson serving as executive producer. Bell and Serkis were reported to be reprising their roles in both films.[134] Spielberg later announced that Jackson was still attached to directing the sequel, and that it would enter work once Jackson completed another Amblin Partners/DreamWorks production.[135]
In March 2018, Spielberg reiterated the above, saying that "Peter Jackson has to do the second part. Normally, if all goes well, he will soon start working on the script. As it takes two years of animation work on the film, for you, I would not expect to see it for about three years. But Peter will stick to it.Tintin is not dead!"[136][137] In interviews later the same year, Jackson affirmed his intent to make anotherTintin film, but said that a script was yet to be written.[138]
In an April 2022 interview withForbes, Bell expressed interest in reprising his role saying. "He [Peter Jackson]’s always doing something, so if they said let’s get the band back together, we’d go do it. It’s going to be weird if I play Tintin at 45, but still, the technology allows it, so that’s fine."[139] In June 2024, Serkis stated that Jackson was working on the sequel.[140]
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