Animation production company Cornerstone Animation Inc. has acquired the rights to the comic book series MERIDIAN, and has begun developing an animated feature film based on the property. The agreement includes motion picture, television and ancillary rights to the adventure tale from CrossGen Comics. MERIDIAN tells the story of Sephie, the 16-year-old minister of the floating city of Meridian. Sephie struggles against her uncle Ilahn, the evil minister of Cacador, who tries to use her powers towards his own nefarious ends.

While sim-actress comedy SIMONE barely made a blip in the weekend box office, M. Night Shyamalan's thriller SIGNS, with visual effects by ILM, rebounded to number one. After debuting in the top spot then spending two weeks in second place, SIGNS has rebounded to number one, adding $14.3M for a cume of $173.2M. SIGNS ousted two-time number one actioner XXX, with visual effects by Digital Domain, which dropped to second with $13.7M for a total of $106.2M. SPY KIDS 2 maintained its hold on third place for the third week in a row.

SimEx Digital Studios has recently completed a specialty venue project for LEGOland, an all-CG animated short based on the newly released LEGO Racers toy line. LEGO RACERS 4D is a high-definition 3D stereoscopic 13-minute short with in-theater special effects featuring Max, a driver for Team Nitro, and Max's nemesis Sever, driver for the Exo-Force Team. Together with six other drivers, Max and Sever bang fenders within a 20 mile-diameter racing stadium called The Drome, which provides Max and the other racers with an endless array of obstacles and landscapes.

A team of digital matte artists, computer animators and visual effects specialists from R!OT helped to build the first city on the moon for Warner Bros.' latest comedy THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH. The R!OT team prepared a series of digital cityscapes of the lunar metropolis, complete with trains, buses, holographic signage, office towers and a multitude of lunar residents on scooters. The digital shots, including several fly-overs revealing large expanses of the city, appear throughout the film. "It is a city encased in glass," said R!OT lead matte painter Rocco Gioffre.

Thanks to visual effects house ComputerCafe, a miniature zoo and menacing mutant animals are among the new adventures awaiting siblings Carmen and Juni Cortez, who are back in action in SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS. In SPY KIDS 2, a new mission takes Carmen and Juni to a mysterious island where they meet Professor Romero, a genetic scientist who has created the ultimate children's toy, a tabletop zoo featuring miniature penguins, a kangaroo, a lion and an elephant.

The top two movies held their places from last weekend, with extreme-sports actioner XXX, with visual effects by Digital Domain, coming in at number one with $23M, for a gross to date of $84.9M. Alien thriller SIGNS, with visual effects by ILM, was in second place, with $19.5M for a cume of $150.7M. The surfer girls of BLUE CRUSH had a third place debut with $15.2M and kids' action pic SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS, with visual effects by ComputerCafe, added another $11.6M to its total for a ten day cume of $45.7M and fourth place.

SecondSun Entertainment has teamed with Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures to screen its new animated short cartoon, SOMETHING FISHY, together with the film THE MASTER OF DISGUISE, starring Dana Carvey, now in theaters. The 3-minute short, about a little shrimp and his position in the food chain, was produced by SecondSun Entertainment's 3D-animation division, Brainchild Studios, and was directed by Ed Konyha. The film was chosen by Revolution Studios from over 300 short cartoons that were submitted.

Controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore (ROGER AND ME, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE) is getting animated. VARIETY reports that Moore's next project will be an animated feature, co-written with cartoonists/animators Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) and Harold Moss. Tomorrow is well known for his comic strip "This Modern World," which appears regularly in approximately 150 papers across the country, and Moss is the founder and creative director of FlickerLab in New York.

Extreme-sports actioner XXX, with visual effects by Digital Domain, was the number one film this weekend, earning $44.5M. The signs were still good for M. Night Shyamalan's crop-circle caper, which has already crossed the $100M mark after ten days in theaters. SIGNS, with visual effects by ILM, dropped 51% from last weekend but still brought in $29.4M for a total of $117.9M and second place. Family friendly sequel SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS, with visual effects by ComputerCafe, debuted in third with $16.7M for the weekend and a total of $25M since its Wednesday debut. Yeah baby!

Andrew Adamson, co-director of SHREK, has been hired to direct a live-action feature film adaptation of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. Producer Walden Media partnered with The CS Lewis Company to option the entire seven-part fantasy book series THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, of which THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE is best-known. Writer Ann Peacock (A LESSON BEFORE DYING) will adapt the screenplay. The film does not yet have a distributor, but Walden hopes to have it in theaters by mid-2004. SHREK marked Adamson’s feature film directing debut.