Someone Might Pay for 'Tintin' After All

You may recall, back in September, Universal told Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, "Look, buds, you've made some great films, and we plan to re-buy them on Blu-Ray, but we're not going to give you $130 million dollars and 30% gross revenue to make a few films about some Belgian comic that isn't all that popular here." Now it looks like Sony and Paramount have stepped in, and might co-finance the films despite losing the prospective star:

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures are in talks to co-finance "Tintin," Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s digital 3-D pic based on the Belgian "Tintin" comics.

While neither Sony nor Paramount would comment, both confirmed talks are under way for one film.

Spielberg had hoped to be in production by fall. However, when financing fell apart at U on the eve of the DreamWorks/Par divorce, he lost the participation of his lead actor, Thomas Sangster.

Well, guys, if this doesn't work out, there's always being selected as a contestant 130 times and playing all perfect games on Howie Mandel's Pick a Box. That's what I always consider my greatest possibility of making enough money to get haircuts.

Sony, Paramount financing 'Tintin' [Variety]