yU + co explores the elusiveness and transience of memory in its absorbing main title sequence for the new John Woo thriller PAYCHECK, which opened Christmas Day through Paramount Pictures. The design studio's mercurial graphics, where words and names form out of random characters on a computer screen before being quickly erased, serve as a subtle metaphor for the conflict that besets the film's protagonist, who is engaged in a desperate struggle to reconstruct his past.

Platinum Studios has acquired the film rights to two indie comics – THE DARK FRINGE and RUST. Platinum head Scott Rosenberg will oversee the live-action projects.

FRINGE -- created, written and inked by Eman R. Torre for Atomic Rocket Prods -- follows a cop who must decide whether he can trust the top suspect in the murder of his wife to lead him to the possible true killer. RUST, created by Steve Miller, follows a man who is accidentally covered in metal and finds solace in sculpture.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING continued to rule the box office, grabbing $50.6M domestically over the weekend ended Dec. 28, 2003, and $222.2M for its first dozen days. Overseas brings the total RINGS take to $492M so far. KING also saw the biggest Christmas-day haul ever of $14.6M, a nice holiday present for New Line, director Peter Jackson and his crew and Weta Digital, which did most of the vfx.

Disney has hired Grant Calof and Greg Lee to adapt David Wiesner's award-winning illustrated children's book THE THREE PIGS into an animated feature combining CG and traditional techniques, VARIETY reports. Like SHREK, PIGS is a postmodern take on classic fairy tales (this one was made famous by Disney, of course, in a 1933 Silly Symphony short).

After successfully IMAXing THE MATRIX trilogy, IMAX and Warner Bros. Pictures will release the third installment of the HARRY POTTER film series, THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, in IMAX theaters in June 2004. The highly anticipated Alfonso Cuaron-directed feature is scheduled to open June 4 in conventional theaters. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN will be digitally re-mastered through proprietary IMAX DMR technology.

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, based on the popular book of the same name by C.S. Lewis, will begin production in New Zealand in early 2004, industry development minister Jim Anderton said in a statement. New Zealand-native Andrew Adamson, co-director of the Oscar-winning SHREK, will be directing the live-action film. The production will use stage space and personnel in Auckland.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING came out swinging like Gollum for that box office brass ring on Wednesday, Dec. 17, taking in a glorious $57.6M in theaters around the globe, according to New Line, including a record-breaking domestic gross of $34.1M and $23.5M in 19 territories overseas.

What’s next for IDT Ent., the Newark, New Jersey-based company that’s been on quite an animation buying spree of late? Engage Christopher Reeve (star of four SUPERMAN films, THE BOSTONIANS, SOMEWHERE IN TIME AND THE REMAINS OF THE DAY) to direct an original feature length animated film. The untitled film is described as an urban fable set in the 1930s, and is expected to be completed in early 2005.

Counter-programming struck back at the box office, with the middle-aged romantic comedy SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE knocking THE LAST SAMURAI into second place for the weekend ended Dec. 14, 2003. The Sony film pairing Jack Nicholson with Diane Keaton scored $16M compared to the $14M collected by the Warner Bros. epic starring Tom Cruise (with vfx from Flash Film Works, Rising Sun and Matte World).