After 12 Years, Peter Jackson Is Finally Ready to Return to Directing With This Adventure Sequel

It has been 15 years since Steven Spielberg brought Hergé’s intrepid reporter Tintin to the big screen in an action-packed animated adventure. Now, it finally looks like we are getting closer to the sequel that once seemed a certainty but never materialised, as Peter Jackson has shared a new update on the project — one that will see him make good on a pact he made with Spielberg back in 2011.

The update came during a recent conversation with Gold Derby, as Jackson spoke to the publication to mark the 30th anniversary of his horror movie The Frighteners. While speaking about that film and several others, he touched on the work that has been ongoing to bring Tintin back to theatres in another adventure – this time with the New Zealander as director and Spielberg producing.

Confirming that the script is finished and the film will “probably” be his first directorial effort since The Hobbit trilogy, Jackson said, “Fran and I have been writing a script for the next Tintin film because 15 years ago, Steven Spielberg directed a Tintin film and I produced it. The idea was that then I was supposed to go straight onto a second one, and we’d swap the roles, so I’d direct the second one and he’d produce it. It’s just taken 15 years to get there, unfortunately, a bit late. But it’s a timeless story. So we just wrapped up. So probably the next film that I’d actually direct is a Tintin movie.”

Jackson’s directing career is the stuff of Hollywood dreams. Going from an indie director of low-budget, gore-filled horror movies to being handed the multi-million-dollar three-movie The Lord of the Rings project, the escalation of Jackson’s career was as startling as it was successful. With films like King Kong and Heavenly Creatures also under his belt, in 2011 he produced The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which ended its box office run on a strong $374 million.

Peter Jackson Has Not Directed a Movie in 12 Years

At the time, it seemed like a sequel would not be too long in coming. However, several things have since held Jackson back from getting behind the camera to complete his role reversal with Spielberg. He took on another epic task in adapting Tolkien’s The Hobbit into its own trilogy, ending with The Battle of the Five Armies in 2014.

He also produced the brilliant documentaries They Shall Not Grow Old and The Beatles: Get Back. Then, in 2015, Jackson’s longtime cinematographer Andrew Lesnie passed away — an event Jackson later admitted had left him very “reluctant” to direct again with a new director of photography.

Many fans of The Adventures of Tintin had given up on a sequel ever happening, and it certainly did not seem like it would be the film to get Jackson directing again. The original was well received and featured Jamie Bell voicing the titular role, with Andy Serkis voicing Captain Haddock. The sequel is believed to be taking its story from the Tintin graphic novels Prisoners of the Sun and The Seven Crystal Balls. While all of this suggests things are finally moving ahead on the sequel fans have been waiting for, there is one big caveat to consider.

There is no release date yet, and because the film needs to be fully motion-captured and then animated, a process that takes years, Tintin 2 is still likely some way off. Jackson is also busy dipping a toe back into Middle-earth, producing The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is being directed by and stars Andy Serkis — meaning both of them are a little tied up for the next few months at least. Fans now know that Tintin 2 seems to be very much greenlit; they will just have to be a little patient to see it come to fruition.

(featured image: Disney)

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