Movie News II

On 16 May, news came out about the proposed Tintin movies. Steven Spielberg announced on 14 May that he and Peter Jackson had signed on to make three films about Tintin.
Both directors will each make a feature based on a different Tintin adventure and a third director, yet to be named, will direct the final film.
Spielberg told Variety magazine: "We want Tintin's adventures to have the reality of a live-action film, and yet Peter and I felt that shooting them in a traditional live-action format would simply not honour the distinctive look of the characters and world that Hergé created."
"We're making them look photo-realistic," said Spielberg. "The fibres of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people - but real Herge people."
Jackson says WETA will stay true to Remi's original designs in bringing the cast of Tintin to life, but that the characters won't look cartoonish. The pictures will be produced in full digital 3-D using performance capture technology. Jackson and Weta Digital, the team that created King Kong and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, have apparently already made a 20-minute test reel.
Variety says Spielberg has been trying to get the film rights to Tintin for 25 years. He realized that goal in the past year and since then he and Jackson have begun developing the project.
It has not been announced which of the Tintin stories will feature in the films but a rumour (I can’t find the reference) suggests that each film will feature stories from two books each.

Movie News I

News of the new Tintin movie project makes me excited and shudder at the same time. I love the Tintin books and would hate to see them messed with but I have read them all many times over and with no prospect of any more being written, I want to see what the film makers come up with to satisfy my addiction.
I haven't seen the earlier movies, Tintin and the Golden Fleece (1961), Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964), and Tintin and the Lake of Sharks (1972), but I have the books of these movies and while I don't rate them highly, I treasure them because they are about Tintin.
When I heard that Weta Workshop are going to be working on an animated Snowy for the new live-action movie, I was sure that Weta's involvement would ensure a percentage of class. Most movies that work, work almost by accident. To ensure success through a combination of great script, acting, directing, pace, locations, feel, look, and casting is such a lottery. When the rare movie is made that works in all these categories, people line up to remake it so they can ruin it like it should have been made the first time round.
The main hurdle will be casting of Tintin. I hope it is a talented unknown.
And I also hope he sounds like the Tintin in my head when I read the books.