Peter Jackson to Direct The Adventures of Tintin Sequel After The Hobbit

Peter Jackson will direct Prisoners of the Sun

The Adventures of Tintin, which doesn’t arrive on our shores until Christmas, has already been released across Europe to rave reviews, with many claiming that it is a return to form for director Steven Spielberg, giving him the opportunity to do with Motion Capture all of the things he was never able to do with the human element of his Indiana Jones franchise.

Steven Spielberg and producer of the film Peter Jackson have been on the international interview circuit in support of the film, and it was here that Jackson recently revealed that he will, indeed, still be directing The Adventures of Tintin sequel Prisoners of the Sun as always intended. Just as soon as he gets those pesky The Hobbit: There and Back Again and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey prequels out of the way.

After simply replying, “Yes.” To the question on whether or not Peter Jackson would still step into the director’s seat on the next film, Steven Spielberg revealed that the Prisoners of the Sun screenplay is finished and ready to shoot.

“[Sony and Paramount] were willing to do one movie with us and then give us the financial wherewithal to develop a script, do all the visual storyboards and get it really in launch position. So we can launch pretty quickly on a second movie. The script is already written.”

The Adventures of Tintin was always planned as a trilogy, but the third story has not yet been revealed, and a director (Edgar Wright, anyone?) has not yet been assigned to the project. Prisoners of the Sun, much like the first movie, originally titled The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, will be based on two Herg&#233 books. Author Anthony Horowitz has combined both “Prisoners of the Sun” and its predecessor “The Seven Crystal Balls” in creating this new screenplay.

Sony and Paramount, who are sharing joint distribution credit on The Adventures of Tintin, have not yet greenlit Prisoners of the Sun. They are waiting to see how the film does overseas, and then in the States, before making that solid decision.

Steven Spielberg did comment on directing the third film, which is still a possibility for him.

“We haven’t talked about that. But I had such a wonderful time working on this; it liberated me as a director because I was able to run around by myself. It was a big collaboration, but at the same time it was one of the most personal experiences I’ve had. When you can actually hold the camera and create your shots, you don’t have a lighting team, a key grip electricians…”

If The Adventures of Tintin is a hit overseas, we can expect to see the sequel move forward before the first movie even gets released here in the states.

The Adventures of Tintin comes to theaters December 21st, 2011 and stars Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Jamie Bell, Cary Elwes, Andy Serkis, Nick Frost, Tony Curran, Sebastian Roché. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg.

Prisoners of the Sun is in development .