The deal between Sony Pictures and Paramount is almost finalized where Sony will fund half of the production cost for the Peter Jackson and Steven Speilberg film “Tintin”, a 3-D motion capture film. The total budget of this movie is projected at $130 million apart from expenses for marketing.
This move followed the exiting of Universal Pictures from this venture due to financial constraints. “Tintin” will be produced by Jackson and directed by Speilberg and following completion of negotiations by next week, production is expected to start by the end of this year.
Universal Studios went through Jackson’s and Speilberg’s budget and deals regarding profit sharing and decided not to take the risk and opted out. The deal clearly indicated that unless a gross of $425 million revenue was achieved, Paramount and Universal could not even break even.
Similarly taken earlier movies where sensors recorded and fed into the computer movements of the actors to be manipulated had only had lukewarm performance at the box office. While the “Monster House” from Sony saw revenue of $140 million globally, the “Beowulf” from Paramount grossed around $196 million. These figures being much lower than the required $400 million or more for “Tintin”, Universal Studios understandably backed out of the venture.
There was no official comment coming from both Sony and Paramount on the status and details of the negotiations. The famous Belgian comic book character Tintin is a young reporter who goes through various interesting adventures with his dog. Though very popular all over, Tintin is not so familiar in the US.
