With the economy in a slump and then some--studios are cutting costs wherever possible-- when the dual directors submitted a $130 million budget to produce the 3 films based on the Belgian comic last week, Universal said no thanks.
Now comes word Viacom has just stepped in and offered the big time directors full financing on the project which was supposed to start production next month. No word as yet if any of this issue will cause a delay.
With no less then 30% of the film's gross going to the film's directors, the property will have to make on the order of over $400 million before a studio would see a dime - meaning the property needs to do well both at home domestic and abroad.
Jackson's Weta Digital has already spent $30 million developing performance-capture technology to make the boy detective, his dog and the rest of his motley crew come alive.
Internationally the two dozen or so graphic novels have been a success and quite popular for many decades. At hone however they remain barely known works which raises a serious question about the film's domestic viability.
Yet with the dream duo of Spielberg and Jackson, Steven Moffat adapting the script - the film already has more going for it than most adaptations
How awkward though...since Spielberg and DreamWorks officially split from Paramount last Friday...
Yikes...
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