Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures will initially co-finance the Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson film series based on creator Herge's Belgian "Tintin" comics.
The first film, reportedly "The Secret Of The Unicorn", is expected to be completed in time for a 2010 release. Jackson will direct the sequel "Red Rackham's Treasure".
Paramount will distribute in North America and other English-speaking territories, with Sony handling the foreign release.
The screenplays were adapted from the comics by writer Steven "Jekyll" Moffat.
Herge's "Tintin" comic adventures have been translated into more than 50 languages with over two hundred million books sold.
Stories feature the young reporter involved in international crime intrigues, travelling the world and to the moon, accompanied by his loyal dog 'Snowy', drunken friend 'Captain Haddock', deaf 'Professor Cuthbert Calculus' and bumbling twin detectives 'Thomson' and 'Thompson'.
