Nikki Finke reports on what might be called a no-brainer…the upcoming TINTIN movie will have a big, wide release in Europe for two weeks before it hits the US:
One of the film’s producers, Kathleen Kennedy revealed her role in the decison at today’s “Produced By” Conference. Noting this is a first for a film directed by Steven Spielberg, she said she had to do some arm-twisting to convince distributors Paramount and Sony to allow the 3-D pic to premiere in Europe 8 weeks in advance of its North America launch on December 23rd, 2011. But it makes sense since The Adventures Of Tintin is based on the Belgian children’s tale. “That property is known so well in Europe and virtually not at all here,” Kennedy said. Paramount is handling Tintin’s distribution in the U.S., UK, Australia and Asia, while Sony has Belgium, France, the rest of Europe, and the rest of the world. The film is a joint production of both Spielberg’s Amblin/DreamWorks and Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films.
Speaking of TINTIN, director/producer Peter Jackson will be making his first ever appearance at Comic-Con to promote Neill Blomkamp’s DISTRICT 9. (We liked the trailer we saw.) Will Jackson talk HOBBIT? Will he talk TINTIN? He promises a “wild ride,” but that could just mean he’s taking a pedicab to his hotel.
Well, that’s a relief. Now if it bombs in the US they can just blame piracy.