Hollywood movie studio Universal has backed away from funding a planned animated movie of Belgian comic "Tintin" which was to be produced by Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg.

Universal, which had an option to co-finance the picture, decided the $US130 million ($NZ197 million) budget was too high, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

"Tintin" would have had to make $US425m in ticket sales before the studios could break even, sources said.

Under the proposal, Spielberg and Jackson would take about 30 percent of the studio's total gross revenue from tickets and other sales.

Paramount, where Spielberg has been developing "Tintin", had agreed to finance half the film and hoped Universal would partner it. Instead, the studio is expected to decide soon on whether to back the whole project, the newspaper reported.

Spielberg had hoped production would begin this month on the first movie about the young Belgian reporter. He was to direct the first in a performance-capture-based film trilogy, with Jackson directing the second.

Wellington-based Weta Digital was to create the visual effects.