Spielberg Says TINTIN Sequel Production Will Begin Later This Year; Hopes to Direct Third Film

Peter Jackson, who acted as a producer on the first film, will be at the helm of the upcoming animated follow up while Steven Spielberg will take up an executive producer role.

Combining three of Belgian artist Georges "Hergé" Remi's comic stories --The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure -- the film depicts Tintin's first encounter with Captain Haddock and the discovery of a clue to the treasure of his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock. They set out to find it with protection from a prison escapee, the nefarious Red Rackham, as well as Detectives Thompson and Thomson.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson with a screenplay by Stephen Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, The Adventures of Tintin features the voice talent of Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook and is now playing in theaters worldwide.

During a recent interview, Spielberg shared a few details about the next installment of the Tintin franchise including it's tentative production schedule:

"Peter will start working on the film this year. When he’s done shooting The Hobbit, he’ll begin his performance capture work with the actors later in 2012, which I’m very excited about... I’m not going to say which stories have been chosen for Peter Jackson’s sequel because Peter and I agreed that we weren’t going to let that information out yet. The script is now being written. It’s more than one book, but it’s not three books, so that means it’s two books. It’s two and a half books that we’re combining with The Secret of the Unicorn."

With the success of the first film, and anticipation quickly building up for the second, it's only a matter of time before talk of a full trilogy solidifies. Not only is it already a possibility, but Spielberg wouldn't mind stepping back behind the camera: "I’m hoping I’ll be able to direct the third one. I’d love to do the third one because I had so much fun on the first one.”