Global Box office battle sees Tintin breaking records...

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Being one of the best films released in 2011 helps, but for those people in North America who still didn’t quite get what a big deal Tintin is everywhere else (It’s like Football (Soccer) all over again! Then the $55.8m from just 19 markets (several of them minor) should really spell it out. It opened number 1 in 17 of those markets and the comic boom investigative Journalist / adventurer / “wisp of ginger...” found $21.5m in France, which is the biggest ever opener for a non domestic, non-sequel. Spielberg’s first 3D /1^st Motion Capture animation film also dug up an impressive $10.7M in the U.K;  $6.7M in Spain;  $4.6 from the Germans 4.6, $1.8m from the Swiss; $1.6m in Denmark; $1.3m in Holland; $1.3m in Italy and in Herge’s native Belgium $2.1M.

So that’s A very, very encouraging start for the man-boy wonder and millions of fans in 19 countries are now cursing the fact that Peter Jackson has ended up (unexpectedly) on Hobbit duty, meaning the 2^nd part of the Spielberg & Jackson’s Tintin double won’t start filming for some time. Curse you Middle Earth!!!

It remains to be seen whether Tintin the move, as made by Spielberg & Jackson, conquer the United States in a way that the books have never really managed, but here is yet more evidence that whatever the box-office there it could be simply sauce for the goose. Tintin has every chance of making a very decent profit before it even opens in North America on the 23^rd of December. One thing seems certain, Mo-Cap animation has not been a turn off for potential audiences and Tintin has a very good chance of becoming the most successful film in the format. Given that the film has many major markets, most of them very Tintin friendly, yet to open it will surely, at the very least, be the biggest Mo-Cap film at the international box office. Much credit for this has to go to Jackson’s WETA. Their animation is far superior to that of Image Movers and they have not only removed the “dead eyes” / “Uncanny Valley” effect of most of the Image Movers’ films, but in fact have managed to get an extremely high level of performance through the eyes.

Mo-Cap animation for the masses...

Film		Year	North American Gross	International Gross	Worldwide	Budget
1	Disney’s Christmas Carol	2009	$137,855,863	$187,430,783	$325,286,646	$200m
2	Polar Express	2004	$181,993,278	$124,140,582	$306,133,860	$165m
3	Beowulf	2007	$82,280,579	$114,113,166	$196,393,745	$150m
4	Monster house	2006	$73,661,010	$66,513,996	$140,175,006	$75m
5	The Adventures of Tintin*	2011	$55,000,000		$55,000,000	$130m - $140m
5	Mars Needs Moms	2011	$21,392,758	$17,600,000	$38,992,758	$150m

*Only released in a small % of markets for less than 1 week.

Synopsis...

“Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures Present "The Adventures of Tintin" directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. Starring Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliot," "Defiance") as Tintin, the intrepid young reporter whose relentless pursuit of a good story thrusts him into a world of high adventure, and Daniel Craig ("Quantum of Solace," "Defiance") as the nefarious Red Rackham.”

North America
United States	23-Dec-11
Latin America
América Central	30-Dec-11
Argentina	5-Jan-12
Bolivia	12-Jan-12
Brasil	20-Jan-12
Chile	5-Jan-12
Colombia	1-Jan-12
Ecuador	13-Jan-12
México	25-Dec-11
Perú	25-Dec-11
Uruguay	6-Jan-12
Venezuela	23-Dec-11
Middle East / Africa
Bahrain	3-Nov-11
Egypt	2-Nov-11
Israel	3-Nov-11
Jordan	2-Nov-11
Kuwait	3-Nov-11
Lebanon	3-Nov-11
Nigeria	23-Dec-11
Oman	3-Nov-11
Qatar	3-Nov-11
South Africa	23-Dec-11
Syria	3-Nov-11
United Arab Emirates	3-Nov-11
Asia Pacific
Australia	26-Dec-11
Hong Kong	24-Nov-11
India	11-Nov-11
Korea	8-Dec-11
Malaysia	10-Nov-11
New Zealand	26-Dec-11
Pilipinas | Philippines	30-Nov-11
Singapore	10-Nov-11
Taiwan	12-Nov-11
Thailand	10-Nov-11
Vietnam	11-Nov-11
Europe
België | Belgique | Belgium	26-Oct-11
Bulgaria	4-Nov-11
Ceská republika | Czech Republic	27-Oct-11
Danmark | Denmark	27-Oct-11
Deutschland | Germany	27-Oct-11
España | Spain	28-Oct-11
Eesti | Estonia	28-Oct-11
Ελλάδα | Greece	3-Nov-11
France	26-Oct-11
Hrvatske | Croatia	3-Nov-11
Íslan | Iceland	28-Oct-11
Italia | Italy	28-Oct-11
Latvijas | Latvija, Latvija | Latviju | Latvia	28-Oct-11
Lietuvos | Lietuva | Lithuania	28-Oct-11
Magyarország | Hungary	3-Nov-11
Nederland | Netherlands | Holland	26-Oct-11
Norge | Norway	28-Oct-11
Österreich | Austria	28-Oct-11
Polska | Poland	4-Nov-11
Portugal	27-Oct-11
Россия | Russia	3-Nov-11
România	28-Oct-11
Slovenija | Slovenia	3-Nov-11
Slovensko | Slovakia	3-Nov-11
Srbija | Crna Gora | Serbia and Montenegro	3-Nov-11
Suisse | Switzerland (Fr)	26-Oct-11
Schweiz | Switzerland (Ger)	27-Oct-11
Svizzera | Switzerland (Itl)	28-Oct-11
Suomi | Finland	4-Nov-11
Sverige | Sweden	28-Oct-11
Türkiye | Turkey	4-Nov-11
Ukraine	3-Nov-11
United Kingdom	26-Oct-11