Uni drops Tintin

Steven Spielberg had planned to make the first installment of the TINTIN trilogy his next feature. He and Peter Jackson (who was set to direct the second installment) spent $30 million on pre-production and recently presented 10-minute footage test to Paramount executives. But with just months before filming could begin, Spielberg has gotten some bad news – co-financier Universal has backed out of the film. According to the LA Times, Universal, who many assumed would become the new home to Spielberg now that his deal with Paramount is over, told Spielberg and Jackson that their TINTIN deal “made no financial sense.” After crunching the numbers, the studio accountants realized that TINTIN would have to gross over $425 million before they even broke even (broke even!). Embarrassing now is that Spielberg has to return to Spielberg, where he’s currently trying to break free, and ask them to fully finance the film. As previously reported, Spielberg and Jackson would direct TINTIN using performance capture (THE POLAR EXPRESS) and would be presented in 3-D. Paramount is currently crunching the numbers and should they agree to foot the bill, Spielberg could begin filming as early as October.