The first images from Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson‘s planned trilogy adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin have been released online.

The performance-capture films will begin with the Spielberg-directed The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which is set for release on December 28, 2011. The opening film is a combination of three stories — The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure — follows Tintin (Jamie Bell), a young reporter who meets a man known as Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), and the two discover a clue that might lead to a treasure belonging to Haddock’s great ancestor.

Now comes our first peek at what the movie will look like by way of Empire Magazine. It’s nothing too surprising here — the movies look like the classic Tintin with a nice performance-capture/CGI makeover, and that was exactly the idea.

Be sure to click over right now to see the two first images, and you can also click the image up top for Empire’s magazine cover.

If you’ve yet to hear, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are directing a trilogy based on the popular Tintin character. Spielberg is directing one, then Jackson will direct, and then they may co-direct the third or maybe even find someone new to do the honors. The movies will be shot using motion-capture technology and they will be released in the booming 3-D format. The first movie in the trilogy is happily titled The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

U.S. distributor Paramount Pictures and international distributor Sony Pictures have officially announced that Secret of the Unicorn will be released on December 23, 2011 in the U.S., with the movie opening in late October and early November of 2011 internationally.

The Adventures of Tintin follows a determined young reporter who stops at nothing to get his story, a trait that sees him always in wild predicaments and encounters. The movie stars Jamie Bell as Tintin, Daniel Craig as Red Rackham, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson and Thomson, and Andy Serkis.

Recently it was announced that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost had officially joined the cast as Thompson & Thomson in Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson‘s proposed Tintin trilogy of movies, the first of which is now officially titled The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.

Now comes word of two more castings, Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig. Bell has been cast in the lead role of Tintin; he is best known for his work in Billy Elliot and was recently in Jumper. He also worked on Peter Jackson’s King Kong, so that probably helped out a bit. Daniel Craig is best known as the latest and greatest James Bond and his character in Tintin will be Red Rackham.