The Adventures of Tintin (released as The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in some territories) is a 2011 animated adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, who produced it with Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. Based on the Tintin comic book series by Hergé, the film stars Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig. In the film, Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock search for the treasure of the Unicorn, a ship once captained by Haddock's ancestor Sir Francis Haddock, but face dangerous pursuit by Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, the descendant of Sir Francis' nemesis Red Rackham.

Spielberg and Hergé admired each other's work; Spielberg acquired the film rights to The Adventures of Tintin after Hergé's death in 1983, and re-optioned them in 2002. Filming was due to begin in October 2008 for a 2010 release, but the release was delayed to 2011 after Universal Pictures backed out of producing the film with Paramount Pictures, which had provided $30 million in pre-production; Columbia Pictures replaced Universal as co-financer. The delay resulted in Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who was originally cast as Tintin, departing and being replaced by Bell. The film draws inspiration from the Tintin volumes The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure. Principal photography began in January 2009 and finished that July, with a combination of voice acting, motion capture and traditional computer animation being used.

The Adventures of Tintin premiered at the UGC De Brouckère in Brussels on 22 October 2011, and was released in New Zealand on 26 October and in the United States on 21 December by Paramount. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the motion-capture animation, faithful character designs, visual effects, action sequences, cast performances and musical score, and grossed $374 million against a $135 million budget, and received numerous awards and nominations, including being the first motion-captured animated film to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, while John Williams was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. A sequel directed by Jackson has been announced but has since stalled in development hell. In 2026, Jackson said that he and Fran Walsh were working on the script.

Plot In 1940s Brussels, young journalist Tintin browses an outdoor market with his pet dog Snowy and purchases a model of a ship known as the Unicorn. He is then accosted by an Interpol officer named Barnaby and a ship collector named Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, who both unsuccessfully attempt to purchase the model from Tintin. After Tintin takes the model home to his apartment, it gets accidentally broken during a chase between Snowy and a cat. A parchment scroll then slips out and rolls under a piece of furniture. Meanwhile, bumbling police detectives Thomson and Thompson are on the trail of a kleptomaniac pickpocket named Aristides Silk.

After visiting Maritime Library to uncover the history surrounding the Unicorn, Tintin returns to find the Unicorn had been stolen. Suspecting Sakharine, he heads to Marlinspike Hall and accuses him of the theft, but noticing Sakharine's model is not broken he realizes there are two Unicorn scrolls. Tintin then returns home to his apartment to find it ransacked. Snowy shows him the scroll, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Interpol Barnaby, who is then assassinated while attempting to recover the Unicorn. Tintin places the scroll in his wallet, but is pickpocketed by Silk the next morning.

Later, Tintin is abducted and imprisoned by accomplices of Sakharine on the SS Karaboudjan. He learns that Sakharine formed an alliance with the ship's staff and led a mutiny to take control. On board, Tintin meets Archibald Haddock, the ship's captain who is permanently drunk and unaware of most of his past. Tintin, Haddock and Snowy eventually outrun the crew, escape from the Karaboudjan in a lifeboat, and attempt to use a second one to fake their deaths, but Sakharine sees through the ruse and sends a seaplane to find and capture them. Feeling cold and thirsty on the lifeboat ride, Haddock foolishly uses a stowaway bottle of whisky to light a fire in the boat, accidentally causing a massive explosion that flips the boat upside down and leaves the trio stranded on top of it. The trio seizes the plane, and uses it to fly towards the fictitious Moroccan port of Bagghar. However, the seaplane crashes in a desert due to low fuel and a thunderstorm.

While trekking through the desert, Haddock hallucinates and remembers his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock, the 17th-century captain of the Unicorn whose treasure-laden ship was attacked by the crew of a pirate ship, led by their leader Red Rackham, later revealed to be Sakharine's ancestor. Sir Francis surrenders and eventually destroys the Unicorn and most of the treasure, to prevent it from falling into Rackham's hands before sinking. The story implies there were three Unicorn models, each containing a scroll; together, the scrolls can reveal coordinates of the location of the sunken Unicorn and its treasure. The group are eventually found and rescued by French soldiers and they make their way to Bagghar.

Thomson and Thompson arrive in Bagghar and give Tintin back his wallet and the first scroll, having apprehended Silk. The third model and scroll is possessed by Omar ben Salaad, which Sakharine steals during a Bianca Castafiore concert. A chase through the city ensues during which Sakharine gains all the scrolls. Just as he is ready to give up, Tintin is persuaded by Haddock to continue. With help from Thomson and Thompson, Tintin and Haddock track Sakharine back to Brussels and set up a trap, but Sakharine resists. When his men fail to save him, Sakharine challenges Haddock to a sword fight with the cranes at the dock. Sakharine threatens to torch the scrolls after Haddock corners him, but Tintin snatches them from him. After the fight, Sakharine is pushed by Haddock overboard and is then arrested by Thomson and Thompson.

Tintin, Haddock and Snowy are guided by the three scrolls back to Marlinspike Hall, revealed to be the Haddock family estate. In the cellar, Haddock notes a globe with an island he knows does not exist and presses it, causing the globe to open and reveal some of the treasure that Sir Francis had managed to recover along with his hat and a clue to the Unicorns location. The film ends with both men agreeing to set up an expedition to find the shipwreck and the rest of the treasure.

Cast

Jamie Bell as Tintin. Bell replaced Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who dropped out when filming was delayed in October 2008. Jackson suggested Bell to take on the role after previously casting him as Jimmy in his King Kong remake. Andy Serkis as Captain Archibald Haddock and Sir Francis Haddock. Spielberg suggested Serkis, given he played Gollum in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong in the 2005 remake, which were both roles requiring motion capture, and also because he considers Serkis a "great and funny actor". Serkis joked he was concerned Jackson wanted him to play Tintin's dog, Snowy, who was animated traditionally, i.e., without motion capture. Serkis remarked upon reading the comics again for the role that they had a surreal Pythonesque quality. The actor researched seamen, and gave Haddock a Scottish accent as he felt the character had "a rawness, an emotional availability, a more Celtic kind of feel". Daniel Craig as Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, the main antagonist and descendant of Red Rackham; and Red Rackham the pirate who attacked the Unicorn, the ship captained by Sir Francis Haddock. Spielberg described Sakharine as a "champagne villain, cruel when he has to be but with a certain elegance to him". Jackson and Spielberg decided to promote Sakharine from a relatively minor character to the villain, and while considering an "interesting actor" to portray him, Spielberg came up with Craig, with whom he had worked on Munich. Craig joked he followed "the English tradition of playing bad guys". Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as Thomson and Thompson, respectively, bumbling police detectives who are almost identical despite not being related. The duo was invited out of necessity to have a comedy team that could act identical."The Who's Who of Tintin", The Adventures of Tintin DVD Spielberg invited Pegg to the set and offered him the role after he had completed How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. Toby Jones as Aristides Silk, a pickpocket and self-confessed kleptomaniac. Daniel Mays as Allan, Captain Haddock's former first mate. Mackenzie Crook as Tom, a thug on the Karaboudjan. Gad Elmaleh as Omar ben Salaad, an Arab potentate. Elmaleh stated his accent was "the childhood coming back". Enn Reitel as Nestor, Sakharine's butler; and Mr. Crabtree, a vendor who sells the Unicorn to Tintin. Tony Curran as Lieutenant Delcourt, an ally of Tintin. Joe Starr as Barnaby Dawes, an Interpol agent who tries to warn Tintin about purchasing the Unicorn and ends up being shot by Sakharine's thugs on Tintin's doorstep. Kim Stengel as Bianca Castafiore, a comical opera singer. While Castafiore was absent from the three stories, Jackson said she was added for her status as an "iconic character" and because she would be a fun element of the plot. Renée Fleming provides the singing voice for Castafiore. Sonje Fortag as Mrs. Finch, Tintin's landlady. Cary Elwes and Phillip Rhys as French seaplane pilots working for Sakharine. Elwes came across Spielberg in the cereal aisle of a grocery store shortly after Spielberg visited Robert Zemeckis on the A Christmas Carol set and persuaded Spielberg to cast him on the film due to being a huge Tintin fan. Spielberg appreciated Elwes' devotion to the franchise and cast him as one of the pilots because they were the last of the parts to be cast, which Elwes gratefully accepted regardless of its size because being part of the film meant so much for him. Nathan Meister as a Market artist who bears a resemblance to Hergé. Mark Ivanir as Afgar Outpost Soldier/Secretary. Sebastian Roché as Pedro/1st Mate. Ron Bottitta as a Unicorn Lookout. Sana Etoile as a Press Reporter.

Production Development Steven Spielberg became an avid fan of The Adventures of Tintin in 1981 after a review compared Raiders of the Lost Ark to the comics. Meanwhile, Hergé—who disliked the previous live-action film versions and the Hergé's Adventures of Tintin animated series—became a fan of Spielberg. Michael Farr, author of Tintin: The Complete Companion, recalled Hergé "thought Spielberg was the only person who could ever do Tintin justice". Hergé had been looking to use the medium of film to make Tintin more current, as he felt that the animated films Tintin and the Temple of the Sun and Tintin and the Lake of Sharks had failed to capture the essence of the books. Spielberg and his production partner Kathleen Kennedy of Amblin Entertainment were scheduled to meet with Hergé in 1983 while filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in London. Hergé died that week, but his widow decided to give them the rights. A three-year-long option to film the comics was finalized in 1984, with Universal Pictures as distributor.