Following the epic (and epically not great) Hobbit trilogy, we all kind of assumed that Peter Jackson would take a little break from filmmaking. A blockbuster trilogy is exhausting and the guy has clearly earned a good nap or two. In news that may come as a bit of a surprise, it looks like the filmmaker is not only planning a new project, but he’s already begun working on it in secret — well, not so secret anymore, as Steven Spielberg has spilled the beans.

Spielberg and Jackson previously collaborated on The Adventures of Tintin, which was intended to kick off a new franchise of animated films until poor box office returns put those plans on hold. As Spielberg tells New Zealand’s Time Out magazine, he’s still definitely planning to make Tintin 2 with Jackson sometime in the future, but first:

Peter was so busy with ‘The Hobbit’ that it took him away from ‘Tintin’ and he’s doing another film for my company now. It’s a secret, nobody knows about it. Then after that he’ll do ‘Tintin.'

So yes, another Tintin movie is on the way after Jackson wraps up whatever he’s working on for Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. As to what that secret project could be, your guess is as good as mine. Jackson first gained notice with horror comedies like Dead Alive and the dark fantasy drama Heavenly Creatures, starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey. These projects were more simple and character-driven than his big budget studio projects, and featured incredible practical effects that have been woefully absent from his more recent work.

That said, if Jackson is making a film for Amblin and Spielberg (and he is, clearly), I can’t help but hope that it’s something closer in both tone and aesthetic to Heavenly Creatures than The Hobbit.

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