The Adventures of Tintin is a comic book series that was created by Georges Remi (better known as Hergé) in 1929 and over time has spawned several adaptations including a video game, two animated series, stage plays and live action films. So it’s highly likely that you’ve heard of the escapades of journalist Tintin and his canine companion, Snowy. The latest adaptation of the Hergé creation is an animated trilogy of films. The production is in early stages of development and details are scarce, but read on and find out what is known and what could be.

Each film in the Tintin trilogy will have a different director, and so far Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have been confirmed as directors on two of the films. The third director has yet to have either been decided or announced. It would seem as though all three films in the trilogy will be 3D animated features produced by WETA, the production house most known for their work on Peter Jackson’s King Kong and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Having Spielberg and Jackson on board may be a good sign for the films, as not only are both directors reportedly fans of the original comics, but in addition Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films and Jackson’s King Kong have elements of adventure which are somewhat similar to those found in the Tintin comics.

The trilogy is going to be based on six of the Hergé comic books, of which only two have been confirmed: Red Rackham’s Treasure and The Blue Lotus. However, it is likely that The Secret of the Unicorn might be another of the six, as it continued story in Red Rackham. By the same logic, Cigar of the Pharaoh may very well be another of the six, as that comic begins the story finished in The Blue Lotus. Taking that speculation even further, we may find that each film in the trilogy draws the story from two connected comics, so that each film tells a story on its own. Personally, I’m hoping that The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun make up the last two comics, being personal favourites of mine.

In regards to how the film might look, Spielberg has been quoted as saying:
“We’re making them look photorealistic; the fibers of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people — but real Hergé people! Hergé’s characters have been reborn as living beings, expressing emotion and soul which goes beyond anything we’ve seen to date with computer animated characters. 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”

This is a perplexing idea, as the appeal of Hergé’s distinct ligne claire style is that people are depicted only semi-realistically. The anatomy is all there, but the eyes are dots and the line art is kept simple. The 90s animated cartoon series was fantastic as it stuck closely to the source material to the point of being a motion version of the comics condensed to twenty minutes. And given the inclusion of The Blue Lotus, will the Japanese characters be depicted as Hergé draw them? That is, with tall, prominent teeth. The story of The Blue Lotus took place in a time of political turmoil between Japan and China that preceded the Second Sino-Japanese War, and Hergé’s caricature of the Japanese was a part of his criticism of their part in the war.

What also remains to be seen is depiction of violence in the film. Despite often being set against a backdrop of a real-world war, the Tintin comics had minimal violence and death. In The Blue Lotus, several characters are poisoned. But they are not poisoned to death, but instead the poison has the effect of sending the victim into a mad state. At the end of the story a cure is found for the poisons effects and no one has dies.

But let’s finish this speculation with one more piece of actual confirmed news: Steven Moffat will be the writer on one of the three films. This is excellent news as Moffat is writer on the new series of Doctor Who and was a writer on Coupling. Still, you have to wonder about how consistent the films will be from one to the next, given that it appears that there will be a different writer and director on each one. We can only wait (and hope) and see what becomes of Tintin in his CG animated trilogy.