Talkshow host Kelly Ripa is the latest to join the star-studded cast of DELGO, the independently produced computer-animated feature from Atlanta, Georgia-based Fathom Studios. Ripa (LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY, HOPE AND FAITH) is providing the voice of Princess Kyla's handmaiden. The fantasy adventure is set in a divided land where a troubled youth and some unlikely friends must save the world from itself.

Banking on some slightly different kind of toy stories, Miramax Films and LEGO Co. are in production on a second CGI-animation direct-to-video based upon the toy company’s BIONICLE brand and are developing a theatrical motion picture scheduled for release in 2005. These are early commitments considering their first collaboration, BIONICLE: MASK OF LIGHT, won’t debut on DVD and video until September 16, 2003.

Out of nowhere, SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER topped the box office charts for the weekend ending July 27, 2003, bringing in $33.4M for Miramax's Dimension Films, with VFX by Hybride Technologies and The Orphanage. Meanwhile, even though Disney/Pixar's FINDING NEMO reeled in $4.4M in the eighth spot, it topped $313M as this year's best grosser, good enough to break the LION KING's record as the all-time animation king. However, if you count the recent IMAX reissue, THE LION KING technically has earned a total of $328.5M.

Hybride used a range of Softimage systems to create animation and effects for the box-office topper SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER. The 100-person team at Hybride relied on the SOFTIMAGE|XSI product, SOFTIMAGE|XSI Batch and SOFTIMAGE|XSI BatchServe.

TroubleMaker Studios and Janimation animators used AMD processors with hardware support from BOXX and NVIDIA, as well as software from Microsoft and Softimage on SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER. The third installment of Robert Rodriguez' highly successful family franchise features stereoscopic elements enhanced with 3D glasses.

Paramount's LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE (with VFX by Cinesite (Europe) Ltd., Double Negative and the Moving Picture Co.) will open July 25, 2003 against Universal's SEABISCUIT (with VFX by Pixel Playground Inc., Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Orphanage).

Blur Studio, whose acclaimed AUNT LUISA short will screen at the SIGGRAPH Conference (July 29-31, 2003), is producing a 7-minute sci-fi adventure as a change of pace. The untitled computer-animated project, directed by Blur co-founder/creative director Tim Miller, is about a fisherman in the far future that catches more than he bargained for.

Sydney, Australia-based animation studio Mad Cow Pictures announced it is providing pre-production and production design, effects and support for the upcoming feature version of CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG. The film is being produced by Scholastic Entertainment, Big Red Dog Productions and Starburst Studios. Mad Cow’s co-owner Steve Trenbirth will serve as the unit director.

In a deal stemming from connections made at the Annecy International Animation Festival, Monster Distributes has acquired the rights to Adam Elliot’s HARVIE KRUMPET. Monster now holds the international distribution rights for the 23-minute stop-motion film.

R!OT Santa Monica created a massive and richly detailed digital replica of 19th Century London as part of its VFX package for Fox's new THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. The R!OT team also concocted a roomful of missile silos inside a giant submarine, impaled a man on a rhinoceros horn and came up with a unique way of visualizing the voices on an old phonograph recording.