Peter Jackson is not a prolific filmmaker. After The Lord of the Rings, he doesn’t need to be. Nevertheless, Middle-earth isn’t Jackson’s only excellent directorial endeavor, with 2005’s King Kong and early horror release Braindead also helping to cement his cinematic legacy. As well as directing celebrated documentaries They Shall Not Grow Old and The Beatles: Get Back, Jackson has become more active as a producer in recent years, continuing to have a hand in the Middle-earth franchise while also getting involved with District 9 and Mortal Engines.
Another of Peter Jackson’s production credits was on 2011’s The Adventures of Tintin. A motion-capture adaptation of Hergé’s relentlessly interfering comic book creation, The Adventures of Tintin had been a passion project of Steven Spielberg’s for many years, but only started gaining traction after the legendary director partnered with Jackson and switched from a live-action medium to animation. A dream team was assembled: Spielberg directing and producing alongside Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy, with a script by Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat, and Joe Cornish.
The project was a success, albeit not overwhelmingly so. Nevertheless, Jackson and Spielberg had always planned for multiple Tintin entries, and the 2011 movie ending directly set up a continuation. The years slowly passed with small updates here and there. Peter Jackson made The Hobbit movies. Potential dates for start of production on Tintin 2 came and went. Nothing happened.
The Tintin Movie Has Always Been Underrated
With scores in the mid-70s on Rotten Tomatoes and more than $370 million earned at the box office, The Adventures of Tintin was never an unpopular movie, but still hasn’t received the credit it deserves, not upon release and not in the years since.
As an adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin is about as faithful as Hollywood could possibly manage, retaining the investigative elements and quaint charm inherent to the comics, while resisting the urge to make an out-and-out action caper for kids. The plot mashes up elements from several of Hergé’s tales, but in a natural way where it’s not immediately obvious to a newcomer where one comic ends and another begins. Criticisms at the time took aim at the movie’s visual style, but perhaps ignored how much worse a fully live-action Tintin could have been. 15 years later, The Adventures of Tintin‘s animation has aged remarkably well in comparison to more recent releases.
Curiously, the biggest issue with The Adventures of Tintin ended up being the same issue Tolkien fans had with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies. Both stripped away some degree of nuance and spirit present in the source material and replaced it with a more modern and mainstream approach. It’s difficult to disagree on either count but, just like Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, mo-cap Tintin found a balance between authenticity and the needs of a modern blockbuster in lieu of a like-for-like adaptation that would have inevitably fared worse.
Tintin’s Sequel Update Was 100% Worth The Wait
Finally, cinematic justice for Belgium’s most famous 2-D reporter. In a surprise May 2026 update, Peter Jackson confirmed he was actively working on the script for a second The Adventures of Tintin movie alongside Fran Walsh. As was always the plan after Spielberg directed the first effort, Jackson appears to be occupying the director’s chair for the sequel.
It was always imperative that Tintin’s big screen escapades not end after a single outing. Part of the character’s comic appeal is the concept of an innocent reporter constantly getting into scrapes, never able to avoid poking his nose into international organized crime rings and elaborate deceptions. Like if Jack Reacher never saw the inside of a gym. When collected, Tintin’s stories become like a passport collecting stamps: a globe-trotting trail from one exciting locale to the next. And with each investigation, Tintin’s friendships with the likes of Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus grow stronger, which is a road the 2011 movie started down.
In most cases, waiting 15 years for a mere update on a sequel would be too little too late. With Tintin, it’s a different story. Hergé’s books aren’t going anywhere and the character’s appeal isn’t diminishing. Tintin is timeless at this point, meaning there’s no sell-by date on a potential sequel. More importantly, the motion-capture medium means actors from the 2011 release can reprise their roles without age becoming an issue. Jamie Bell is now 40 (we know, sorry) but his iteration of Tintin doesn’t have to be.
With that in mind, the questions and clamoring can, at long last, come to an end. The Adventures of Tintin is getting a sequel, and Peter Jackson is working on it right now. A 15-year wait comes to an end and, for once, the long delay doesn’t really matter… as long as Tintin pulls that iconic brown coat back on eventually.
- Release Date
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October 25, 2011
- Runtime
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107 minutes