Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are set to tackle a new film trilogy about beloved comic strip journalist and adventurer Tintin.

Both filmmakers have long been fans of the heroic young character, who was created by Belgian illustrator Georges Remi, under the pen name of Hergé.

A cartoon of Tintin and his dog, Snowy, are displayed at Paris's Pompidou Cultural Centre.
(Jacques Brinon/Associated Press)

In March, Moulinsart Studios, which holds the rights to Tintin, announced that Spielberg and his company, Dreamworks, had committed to producing at least one Tintin film.

Spielberg, Dreamworks and Jackson have been quietly developing the new project, according to the industry publication Variety.

The Tintin trilogy will feature work by Jackson's New Zealand-based special effects house, WETA Digital, which was behind the amazing effects in his acclaimed The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Jackson has already produced a 20-minute Tintin test reel using motion-capture technology, Spielberg told Variety.

"Hergé's characters have been reborn as living beings, expressing emotion and a soul which goes far beyond anything we've seen to date with computer-animated characters," he said. 

The two directors have also selected three stories from Hergé's original The Adventures of Tintin series for the trilogy.

Earlier in May, Jackson signed on with Dreamworks to direct the film adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling tale The Lovely Bones.

Since his debut in 1929, Tintin has enthralled comics readers worldwide with his ongoing adventures.

In addition to Hergé's comic books and the Tintin magazine, which was published from 1946 until the early 1990s, the heroic character was brought to life in radio dramas, a handful of animated and live action films, two television series, several stage shows and some video games.

In 2004, fans around the globe celebrated his 75th birthday.