/ 8 March 2007

Tintin to bust criminals on the big screen

The head of the Tintin studio announced on Thursday that Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks company has committed to produce at least one movie on the famed Belgian cartoon character.

Hergé Studios head Nick Rodwell said the Hollywood company will go into pre-production of a movie, which should hit theatres in about two years.

It was unclear at this stage which of the 24 cartoon books of Tintin’s adventures would be picked for a first movie script, he said.

”If movie number one works, we will continue,” he said.

Talks about a Hollywood movie on the intrepid reporter who saves the lives of countless people and makes sure criminals end up behind bars has been talked about for a quarter-century.

The first plan surfaced just before Tintin’s creator, Georges Remi, aka Hergé, died in 1983. But financial and production issues have kept Tintin from landing a role in a Hollywood production. — Sapa-AP