This probably isn’t as huge a news to most American moviegoers. But as someone who grew up reading The Adventures of Tintin comics, I’ve been curiously following this 3D adaptation project for some time now.

The hero of the comic strips created by Belgian artist Hergé is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter with his fox terrier Snowy (Milou in French). Though it didn’t quite catch on in the US, Wikipedia noted that the series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in over 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date. Its fun, captivating and even educational plots would span various genres from swashbuckling, fantastical adventures, political thrillers, to science fiction. The whisky-loving & eternally grumpy Captain Haddock, the genius but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus and the blundering twin detectives Thomson & Thompson never fail to deliver the laughs in various colorful predicaments.

Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are teaming up in an effort to bring Tintin to life in a motion-capture animated 3D film. Here’s a brief history of how the project came together. According to the movie page on Wikipedia, Spielberg’s a fan of the series since 1981, and that even Hergé himself thought Spielberg was the only person who could ever do Tintin justice of bringing it to life. The Belgian author died the same week of their scheduled meeting in 1983, but his widow decided to give Spielberg the rights. Fellow comics fan Jackson, who had used motion capture in The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, suggested that a live action adaptation would not do justice to the comic books and motion capture was the best way of representing Hergé’s world of Tintin.

“We’re making them look photorealistic; the fibers of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people – but real Herge people!” Jackson said of the film’s look.

Spielberg is in charge of directing and ‘capturing’ the actors’ performances, which include Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as Tintin, with regular Jackson collaborator Andy Serkis (The Lord of The Rings‘ Golum) as Captain Haddock. Per Guardian UK, Jackson said that Spielberg has finishing filming. Whilst promoting his movie The Lovely Bones, Jackson told BBC: “Tintin is great. It’s made. The movie is cut together and now [we] are turning it into a fully-rendered film. So the movie, to some degree, exists in a very rough state.” However, it will be another two years before anyone sees the film, due to the amount of post-production work Jackson would have to do to convert all the data into a 3D world.

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the first in a proposed trilogy, will also feature the voices of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Daniel Craig, Cary Elwes. It’s been reported also that the initial plan was for Spielberg to direct the first movie, with Jackson taking the second and another unannounced film-maker the third, but studio Universal passed on the project last year, leading to a downscaling. The film will now come out under the auspices of Paramount and Sony. It is based on three Tintin books: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure.

Can’t wait to see what the creative genius behind two of the finest Hollywood filmmakers will do with this beloved comics. Alas, December 2011 is a really, really long time to wait!