'Tintin' to bow in US after other territories (VAR, ML)

By Nancy Tartaglione

Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" will hit US theaters on December 23, 2011. The US release will come just in time for the holidays, but be far behind the film's bow elsewhere around the globe. The unusual move by Paramount and Sony signals that the studios believe the property shows stronger potential overseas than domestically, reports Variety.

It was also announced that the film will be released in 3-D. A second feature in the series is set to be directed by Peter Jackson.

"Tintin," the Belgian comic by Georges Remi, better known by his pen name, Herge, has been translated into 70 languages.

The film will launch internationally in late October and early November 2011, with Sony Pictures Releasing Intl. handling Continental Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America and India, and Paramount distributing the film in Asia, Australia, the UK and all other English-speaking territories.

The film's cast is an international hodgepodge with Jamie Bell starring as the intrepid young reporter and Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook rounding out the roster.

Meanwhile, the folks at Movieline.com posit that the real reason the film is coming out in the US later than elsewhere is that studios "have fully embraced the mantra that 3-D is a piracy killer."

While studios have ramped up day-and-date releases in the recent past in an effort to thwart piracy, coordinating the process can be daunting. But, 3-D films, posits Movieline, are difficult, if not impossible, to pirate, "and studios hope that increasing acceptance of the technology can put more box office bang � as well as more safeguards � into theatrical distribution."