At Last! Unicorny ‘Tintin’ Reality Blossoms With Jamie Bell And Daniel Craig

After years of delays, budget haggles, director turnover and studio upheaval, we can finally, officially ask: Who’s ready for some Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn?!? Oh. Sorry.

Regardless, Steven Spielberg and his newly announced cast — Jamie Bell as the intrepid titular reporter (Tintin, not the unicorn) and Daniel Craig as villainous pirate Red Rackham — have commenced principle photography on their long-awaited adaptation of the 80-year-old Belgian adventure yarn. THR reports that the motion-capture shoot will arrive in 3-D some time in 2011, with producer Peter Jackson likely in line to direct the follow-up if/when the first one achieves the grand ambitions planned by studio partners Sony and Paramount.

And how could it not — it’s got secrets! It’s got unicorns! It’s got an animated Simon Pegg and Nick Frost! What could go wrong, besides the shattered Hand of LaBeouf that kept Spielberg’s probable first choice out of the franchise? Ancient history, that, with the semi-redoubtable Bell/Craig box-office tandem yielding this kind of inarguable blockbuster promise. Our only real question is where to place our speculative hopes and dreams now that cameras are rolling. Anyone? And Hilary Duff need not inquire.

• Anchors aweigh for ‘Tintin’ [THR]