A comment by Brussels' Herge Studios on Tuesday that Peter Jackson was taking over directing duties on the first "Tintin" movie have been denied says The Hollywood Reporter.

Representatives for both Jackson's and Spielberg's camps insist that Jackson in fact remains attached to direct the sequel, though he will still be a producer on the first.

Steven Spielberg remains committed to directing the first in a planned trilogy for DreamWorks, and the project will be his first post-"Indiana Jones" film.

Jackson is presently finishing up "The Lovely Bones" and will tackle scripting work on "The Hobbit" features will Spielberg works on the first "Tintin".

The studio has finally confirmed the already long ago guessed story that the two-part books "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure" penned in 1942 & 1944 will serve as the basis of the first film's story.

By extension, the remaining two films will likely be based on the series two other two-part stories - the Peru-set horror/thriller "The Seven Crystal Balls" / "Prisoners of the Sun" and the sci-fi adventure "Destination Moon" / "Explorers on the Moon".

Animated with motion-capture technology, the films star Thomas Sangster as Tintin and Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock. A late 2009 or Summer 2010 release seems to be the plan for the first film.