Blistering barnacles! Tintin tops the box office

STEVEN Spielberg's film of Tintin has taken out box-office honours at cinema's biggest day, according to the film's distributor.

STEVEN Spielberg's film remake of the classic Tintin comic has taken out box-office honours at cinema's biggest day of the year, according to the film's distributor.

Paramount Pictures said yesterday the animated feature The Adventures of Tintin grossed nearly $1.5 million on Boxing Day, beating eight films released at cinema's annual big-screen bonanza.

The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia had not released official data by last night, but Paramount said Spielberg's motion-capture remake of Herge's classic comic, featuring a boy reporter and his dog, grossed well above its nearest December 26 rival, Mission Impossible 4: The Ghost Protocol ($809,272 for the day), which was released a fortnight ago.

Tintin, the rights to which Spielberg bought in 1983, beat out other hot contenders, including the director's own equine epic War Horse, The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, George Miller's penguin sequel Happy Feet Two and Tower Heist, an action farce starring Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller.

Tintin, which has received a Golden Globe nomination for best animated feature film, stars Jamie Bell of Billy Elliot fame and Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings).

New Zealand director Peter Jackson was one of the producers. Tintin has taken $US16.1m ($15.8m) since opening in the US a week ago and is fifth on that country's box-office top 10. In Europe the tale of the Belgian boy has taken $235m at the box office since it opened in October.

Mission Impossible 4, starring Tom Cruise, took $US46.2m in the same period to sit atop the US box office.