DreamWorks will film the adventures* of the Belgian comic hero Tintin, the project’s developers said last week.

DreamWorks principal Steven Spielberg, a lifelong fan of the fictional* journalist and adventurer, will serve as producer, but he is not expected to direct. The rights are held by Brussels-based Herge Studios.

Spielberg first planned to move Tintin to the big screen before Tintin creator Georges Remi — known as Herge — died in 1983. But Remi read in the contract that Spielberg might not direct the films personally and refused to sign on the contract.

Herge Studios chief Nick Rodwell said he did not know if the film would be live-action, traditional animation* or CGI, nor was it clear which of the 23 Tintin books would be chosen for the first movie.

“With Harry Potter, everyone knows that there will be seven films. We have 23 scripts*. If the first one works, we’ll make another,” said Rodwell, the husband of Herge’s widow Fanny, the holder of the universal rights for the Tintin estate.

“It will be a big Hollywood production and there will be a worldwide promotion,” Rodwell said.

Two live-action Tintin movies were filmed in the 1960s. Two animated television series have been made, both of which were adaptations of the comic strips* rather than original* stories.

The decision by DreamWorks comes during a year of Tintin festivities* in Europe to celebrate what would have been Herge’s centenary*. Traveling the world fighting crime and venturing to the moon a full decade before Neil Armstrong, the comic-strip boy hero’s books involve masterly* plots*, subtle* themes and depth of characterization.

(SD-Agencies)