Movie Description
The Adventures of Tintin is a 2011 3D computer-animated action-adventure film based on Belgian cartoonist Hergé's comic book series of the same name. The film was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, co-produced by Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy, written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, and stars Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, who portray their characters through voice acting and motion capture. Inspired by three volumes of the Tintin series - The Crab with the Golden Claws (1941), The Secret of the Unicorn (1943) and Red Rackham's Treasure (1944) - its plot follows the reporter Tintin (Bell), his dog, Snowy, and their accomplice Captain Haddock (Serkis) as they search for the treasure of the Unicorn, a ship captained by Haddock's ancestor Sir Francis Haddock; they are pursued by Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Craig), the descendant of Sir Haddock's nemesis Red Rackham.
Spielberg and Hergé were admirers of each other's work; the director acquired the film rights to The Adventures of Tintin following the author's death in 1983, and re-optioned them in 2002. Filming was due to begin in October 2008 for a 2010 release, but the release was delayed to 2011 after Universal Pictures opted out of producing the film with Paramount Pictures, who provided $30 million in pre-production; Sony Pictures replaced Universal as co-financer. The delay resulted in Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who had been originally cast as Tintin, departing from the project and being replaced by Bell. The world première took place on 22 October 2011 in Brussels.
The film was released in the United Kingdom and other European countries on 26 October 2011 and in the United States on 21 December in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D formats. It was a commercial success, grossing over $373 million against a budget of $135 million, making it Paramount's highest-grossing animated feature, and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the stylized use of motion capture (particularly the faithful look to Hergé's works), visual effects, action scenes, performances and music, to which they compared one of Spielberg's previous works, Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was the first motion-captured animated film (as well as the first non-Pixar animated film) to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Composer John Williams was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score and the film was nominated for six Saturn Awards, including Best Animated Film, Best Director for Spielberg and Best Music for Williams.
