It’s been announced that director Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” will be released in the United States on December 23, 2011, but not before many others will see it first.  Paramount and Sony, the film’s distributors, will release the film internationally before it is released in the United States, which is considered to be the opposite of what is usually done for most other films.

The movie is based on the Belgian comic strip, which was published from 1929 until it’s creators death in 1983.  The movie will be directed in motion-capture by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, and is the first film in a planned trilogy.  The proposed second film will be directed by Peter Jackson, and the third film’s director has not yet been announced, although some specualte that it could be both Spielberg and Jackson directing together.  The cast features Jamie Bell as the title character, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Andy Serkis. Also, the film will be shown in 3-D, to take advantage of it’s motion capture techniques.

Tintin, to me, seems like a can’t miss project.  I think it’s odd, however, that much of the world will see the movie before the United States, considering it’s being directed by the most famous director alive, Steven Spielberg. But, really, all I care about is quality and hopefully it’ll be able to deliver on the great promise it presents.  The strategy makes some sense, however, because if a movie like this may need to pick up steam, a positive world-wide word of mouth would be the perfect push a movie like this would need.

What do you think of the idea of releasing Tintin worldwide before it’s released in the United States?  Is this a smart strategy, or does it feel unnecessary?