Naming your film The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn connotes a certain amount of self-confidence, and so does this move: the studios behind the Steven Spielberg-directed cartoon have set a U.S. release date in December 2011, months after the 3-D film will have opened worldwide. "The decision signals the two studios' belief that the property, which has been translated into 70 languages, shows stronger potential overseas than domestically," says Variety. Well, sure, but we think there's one even bigger reason for the surprising delay.
Namely, that studios have now fully embraced the mantra that 3-D is a piracy killer. Increasingly worried about movie theft, studios have set more and more simultaneous worldwide releases as of late -- there's no way you'd see, say, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince open up in Latina America up to three months before its U.S. debut. Still, such mega-openings can be tough to mount, and even tougher to coordinate publicity for. 3-D films, on the other hand, are difficult (if not nearly 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.
Delaying Tintin in the U.S., then, is proof that Paramount and Sony have faith in 3-D's ability to stymie would-be street vendors and Bittorrent bandits until December. Does this unconventional move mean that studios may also pull a "reverse Tintin" in the future -- namely, that they might once again force non-U.S. territories to wait months and months for the biggest Hollywood blockbusters? That's a mystery only Tintin could solve. (Assuming he solves mysteries...I'm an American, what the hell do I know about what Tintin does?)
ยท Spielberg's 'Tintin' sets a date [Variety]