Why Tintin 2 Is Taking So Long To Make

Why is it taking so long for Tintin 2 to release? It’s been over a decade since The Adventures of Tintin movie, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, and Daniel Craig, was in theaters. Spielberg’s Tintin movie was the latest in a long line of film and television adaptations of the famous Belgian comic strip character, but it was also one of the most promising because two more sequels were expected to arrive after The Adventures of Tintin.

The Adventures of Tintin movie based on the beloved comics of cartoonist Hergé (real name: Georges Remi), brought young reporter Tintin (Bell), his trusty dog Snowy, and a colorful coterie of characters, including Captain Haddock (TheBatman‘s Andy Serkis), the villainous Red Rackham (Craig), and detectives Thomson (Nick Frost) and Thompson (Simon Pegg) to the big screen. With the help of motion capture to add some liveliness to the animation, The Adventures of Tintin movie followed Tintin after he purchases a wooden model ship named The Unicorn and discovers a secret map inside, which could lead him to one of the greatest treasures to ever exist. Soon, Tintin is swept up in a globetrotting adventure as he tries to figure out the mystery with the help of Haddock and dodge Red Rackham and his gang of thugs who want the goods for themselves. All told, The Adventures of Tintin is a solid Steven Spielberg movie.

Despite a less-than-pleasing opening weekend gross of $77 million (the film’s budget was estimated to be approximately $135 million), The Adventures of Tintin movie went on to gross over $374 million at the worldwide box office. And it was supposed to be full steam ahead on not one but two sequels for Tintin, Snowy, and Haddock. However, things have not exactly gone according to plan for the Tintin movie franchise with Tintin 2 experiencing delays. But why?

What Ever Happened to The Adventures of Tintin 2?

Animated films take longer to make because of the work required to record voice performances, animate, do motion capture, put on the finishing touches, and so forth, but the production delays on Tintin 2 have been aberrant. Case in point: back in 2013, Spielberg was sharing in interviews the hope was for Tintin 2 to be released December 2015. Yet, there has still been no news about when production will begin meaningfully moving forward on the film. An official reason for what is causing the delays on another The Adventures of Tintin movie has never been given. Is it problems with the script? Have there been scheduling conflicts with the lead actors? Why has no story been settled on? All of these are basic production dilemmas which could be holding things up.

Tintin 2 Is Still Happening & Could Release In A Few Years

Despite all of the tiptoeing around giving a concrete for the better part of the last decade, Spielberg has maintained Tintin 2 is forthcoming – it’s just going to be a few years until it actually does come out. While promoting Ready Player One in early 2018, Steven Spielberg offered this optimistic Tintin 2 update (roughly translated from French): “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!“

Peter Jackson Will Take Over As Director On Tintin 2

Spielberg will be working as a producer on Tintin 2 (as well as the planned third film in the modern The Adventures of Tintin movie trilogy) while Peter Jackson, who knows his way around a rollicking adventure story, is now at the helm of the sequel. Jackson’s been mostly mum on the topic of Tintin 2 since he was handed the keys to the Adventures of Tintin movie kingdom. That makes sense in part because he was still neck-deep in filming on The Hobbit trilogy when Peter Jackson added the Tintin trilogy to his schedule and then switched focus to Mortal Engines; now all eyes are on him. It’s expected Jackson will not only direct but take over writing duties after Jackson implied screenwriter Andy Horowitz’s script was scrapped while speaking with Polygon back in 2018. At this point, Jackson is all about getting underway on Tintin 2, but it’s still slow going.

Tin Tin’s Live-Action Movie Adaptation Explained

If the odds weren’t stacked enough against a sequel to Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin movie, it seems the hypothetical Tintin 2 may also have to compete with the possibility of a live-action adaptation fo the character. Although French director Patrice Leconte has yet to acquire rights to Tintin, he’s eager to make his own live-action take on the comics and is apparently already underway with the development process. Leconte has even settled on an original comic storyline to use: “The Castafiore Emerald.” Unlike Spielberg’s Indiana Jones-esque Adventures of Tintin movie, Leconte’s would be more of a shut-in mystery, which could also be very interesting. Despite Leconte’s own delays, then, it’s well past time for Spielberg and Jackson to at least begin work on Tintin 2, if they want to avoid becoming obsolete.

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