Steven Spielberg still on board for "Tintin"

By Leo Cendrowicz and Jay A. Fernandez

BRUSSELS, Belgium/LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Although Brussels' Herge Studios seems to think otherwise, Steven Spielberg remains committed to directing the first in a planned "Tintin" trilogy for DreamWorks.

It will be his next directing effort after this summer's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which has grossed $780 million worldwide.

Herge Studios, which holds the rights to the iconic comic strip character, said Tuesday via a spokesman that Peter Jackson was moving into the director's chair for the first film. But both Jackson's and Spielberg's representatives say that Jackson will direct the sequel and serve as a producer on the first film.

In the meantime, Jackson will finish postproduction on "The Lovely Bones" for DreamWorks/Paramount before moving on to co-write the two "Hobbit" movies for New Line and MGM.

The first "Tintin" feature will be based on two books, "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure," written by Tintin creator Herge -- the pen name of Belgian artist Georges Remi -- between 1942 and 1944.

The film, scripted by Stephen Moffat, a writer on the British sci-fi series "Doctor Who," will be animated with motion-capture technology. It stars 18-year-old Thomas Sangster as the title character and Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" triology, as Tintin's friend Captain Haddock.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter