Fifteen years is a long time to hold a promise. But Peter Jackson just walked into the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and proved he never forgot. The New Zealand filmmaker confirmed he is actively writing the long-awaited Tintin sequel script, plans to direct it himself, and was doing it right from his hotel room in France between festival events.
A Deal Made Between Two Filmmaking Giants
When Steven Spielberg released The Adventures of Tintin in 2011, a quiet agreement was already in place. Spielberg would direct the first film. Jackson would take the director’s chair for the next one.
“The deal was that Steven directs one and I direct another,” Jackson told reporters during a career masterclass at the Cannes Debussy Theatre. Spielberg kept his end. Then 15 years slipped by.
Jackson openly admitted feeling embarrassed about the gap. “Steven did his film, then for 15 years I haven’t made mine. I feel very awkward about that,” he said, with a directness that few filmmakers would dare admit on a global stage.
Peter Jackson Tintin sequel motion capture film 2026
Writing Pages Between Red Carpets at Cannes
Jackson arrived at Cannes this year to receive an honorary Palme d’Or, one of the most prestigious recognitions the festival awards. What nobody expected was the bombshell that followed during his masterclass session.
“Literally, I’m in the hotel room down the road writing the script and sending pages to New Zealand,” he revealed to a stunned audience.
He is co-writing the screenplay with his longtime partner Fran Walsh, the same creative pairing behind some of his most celebrated work. Once a complete draft is ready, it heads directly to Spielberg for notes.
“I think he’ll have notes for sure, but we’ll go backwards and forwards until we have a script that we like. At that point we’ll let everyone know what the books are.” – Peter Jackson, Cannes 2026
The back-and-forth creative process between Jackson and Spielberg mirrors how the original film came together. It also signals that this sequel carries the full weight and care of both directors, not just one.
Where the Story Picks Up and What We Know
Jackson stayed tight-lipped about the source material. But he did hand fans one meaningful clue about the story.
The sequel will begin exactly where the first movie ended. “All I’ll say now is that it begins exactly where the last film ends,” he confirmed at Cannes.
The 2011 film drew from three Hergé books: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure. At one point, industry speculation pointed to Prisoners of the Sun, The Seven Crystal Balls, and The Temple of the Sun as the likely source material for the sequel, though Jackson has not confirmed this.
Here is what is confirmed so far about the sequel:
- Director: Peter Jackson will direct, honoring the original agreement with Spielberg
- Script: Actively being written by Jackson and Fran Walsh
- Story: Picks up directly from where the first film ends
- Feedback process: Full draft goes to Spielberg before any production moves forward
- Source books: Not officially announced yet
- Cast: No casting confirmed; the original featured Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, and Daniel Craig
Why It Took 15 Years to Get Here
The delay was not one single thing. It was a pile-up of personal loss, professional commitment, and industry caution.
Jackson lost his longtime cinematographer Andrew Lesnie in 2015. Lesnie shaped every visual frame of Jackson’s greatest films, and his death left the director deeply hesitant about returning to narrative feature filmmaking. That grief ran deeper than most fans realized.
Then came years of back-to-back commitments. After the first Tintin, Jackson stepped in to direct The Hobbit trilogy following Guillermo del Toro’s departure from the project. That alone consumed several years. Then came the documentary phase with They Shall Not Grow Old and The Beatles: Get Back, both of which demanded years of intensive work.
His last narrative feature was The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in 2014, meaning this Tintin sequel will mark his return to fiction filmmaking after more than 12 years.
Box office uncertainty also played a role. The 2011 film earned $374 million worldwide but only $77.5 million domestically in the United States. That gap between global success and modest American returns made studios cautious about funding another large-scale motion capture production.
| The Adventures of Tintin (2011) – Key Stats | Numbers |
|---|---|
| Global Box Office | $374 million |
| US Domestic Box Office | $77.5 million |
| Production Budget (approx.) | $135 million |
| Golden Globe Win | Best Animated Feature (first non-Pixar film) |
| Oscar Nomination | Best Original Score |
| BAFTA Nominations | Animated Film, Special Visual Effects |
Why This Time Feels Different
The industry landscape has shifted in Tintin’s favor. Motion capture technology has advanced dramatically since 2011. The tools used to bring Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock to life are now cheaper and more refined, removing one of the biggest financial obstacles that stalled a sequel for years.
Weta FX, the New Zealand visual effects studio co-founded by Jackson, built the original film’s technical foundation. The studio’s capabilities in 2026 far surpass what was possible in 2011, which means the sequel could look even more stunning without a proportional jump in cost.
Film analysts point to a broader cultural moment working in the sequel’s favor. Hergé’s original Tintin comics, which span 24 volumes published from 1929 to 1976, have sold over 200 million copies in more than 70 languages. That global fanbase never went away. If anything, a new generation is discovering the stories through the 2011 film on streaming platforms.
Jackson is also balancing this project alongside his producer role on The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis and set for 2027. That film bridges Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy and the original Lord of the Rings saga. Managing both simultaneously shows a director who is fully back in the creative arena after a decade in the background.
After 15 years of false starts, broken timelines, personal grief, and industry hesitation, the Tintin sequel is finally something real. Peter Jackson writing pages in a Cannes hotel room is not just a quirky anecdote. It is the image of a filmmaker who never stopped caring about a story he promised the world he would tell. Whether you grew up reading Hergé’s comics or watched the 2011 film with wide eyes, this news carries the rare feeling of something long overdue finally falling into place. Drop your thoughts in the comments below. Are you ready to follow Tintin back into adventure.
