On October 14, I posted an entry concerning the departure of DreamWorks from Paramount. The move meant that DreamWorks would exist independently and distribute its future films through Universal. The new situation is complicated by the fact at least for the near future Paramount will still distribute some films it had developed with DreamWorks and all the films made by DreamWorks Animation, which remains within Paramount. In the midst of the shift, the Steven Spielberg-Peter Jackson Tintin project was thrown into an uncertain state.

Universal was expected to co-produce Tintin films along with Paramount, but its sudden decision not to do has caused delays in the production.

Today the New York Times ran a story about negotiations between Sony Pictures Entertainment (owner of Columbia Pictures) and Paramount to co-finance the films. The Times based its story on descriptions of the talks by “people who were briefed on them, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict among the parties.” These negotiations reportedly began last month, after Universal decided not to co-produce the films.

(Oddly, the story refers to the Tintin films as being two in number, while previous accounts I’ve read have said there would be three films. Either the Times story is simply wrong about the number or the project has been scaled back. The plan was for Spielberg to direct the first film and PJ the second, but as far as I know no director has been announced for the third.)

Here’s the core of the story as it relates to the Tintin project:

Mr. Spielberg has been eager to begin shooting the first movie as early as this year. Using motion capture technology that combines live actors with computer animation, he has already filmed parts of the picture. But Universal, which had an option to become involved because Mr. Spielberg started the project there 25 years ago, shocked many in Hollywood by declaring it too risky, despite the participation of Mr. Spielberg, who has kept his offices on Universal’s lot for decades.

The first film’s budget of about $130 million is not exceptionally large by contemporary standards. But Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Jackson, as two of the industry’s most prestigious directors, were demanding nearly a third of the movie’s gross receipts — terms that proved difficult at a time when studios were tightening belts.

Paramount later offered to make the movie on terms it found more favorable, but the directors’ representatives pressed for alternatives. Sony offered to take the movie under a deal more to the filmmakers’ liking, but Paramount was reluctant to let go entirely and began discussing a partnership, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions.

Under the deal now being discussed, Paramount would distribute the “Tintin” movies in North America and some English-speaking territories, while Sony would distribute the picture in various foreign territories, including Europe and Latin America.

As the author points out, this kind of split distribution deal has become fairly common these days. It’s often done with big-budget films as a way of sharing the risk—though as he says, the budget is pretty modest for an effects-heavy film.

(The Hobbit will be co-produced by New Line and MGM, with Warner Bros., New Line’s parent company, distributing in the U.S. and MGM abroad. In that case, the deal resulted from the fact that New Line owned the production rights for the book, while MGM held the distribution rights.)

The story adds, “The first ‘Tintin’ movie is expected to be ready for release in 2010. Mr. Jackson’s installment would come some time after, but does not yet have a completed script.”

That’s an interesting bunch of news, if the Times’s sources are accurate, and it suggests that Tintin was not in quite such a state of uncertainty as Variety reported.

[Added October 31, 11:24 pm:] Anne Thompson has posted a story on Variety adding some details. First, if Sony and Paramount make their deal, DreamWorks would no longer have any association with the Tintin films. Second, she confirms that a director was never found for the planned third film, the script was never written, and “the deal under discussion appears to be for two.”

Anne adds that Peter has delivered his DreamWorks-produced film The Lovely Bones to Paramount, for a fall 2009 release.