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.

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.

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.

All signs pointed to big money at the box office this weekend, when M. Night Shyamalan's latest thriller took the top spot, besting AUSTIN POWERS: GOLDMEMBER and scoring August's highest non-sequel debut in history. SIGNS, with visual effects by ILM, was number one with a $60.3M debut. GOLDMEMBER was second, dropping off 56% from its first weekend, but still earning a strong $30M for a two-week total of $140M. The third and fourth spots were held by two new releases, the Dana Carvey starrer THE MASTER OF DISGUISE with $17M and MARTIN LAWRENCE: LIVE with $7.5M.

GOLDMEMBER, the third installment in the AUSTIN POWERS franchise, handily topped the box office this weekend with a whopping $71.4M debut. This gives the spy spoof $75M total (including Thursday's sneak preview gross) making it the highest July debut ever. The weekend's other new film, Disney's THE COUNTRY BEARS, based on the Disneyland theme park attraction, made a lackluster sixth place debut with $5.2M. This may not bode well for Disney's upcoming features based on theme rides The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

DreamWorks
SKG has thrown its hat into the anime ring with the acquisition of
the worldwide distribution rights for the Japanese animated film
MILLENNIUM ACTRESS. The film rights, licensed from The Klockworx Co.,
Ltd., include all forms of distribution including theatrical, home
video, television and ancillary rights, and covers all markets with
the exception of Asia. Based in Tokyo, The Klockworx Co., Ltd. will
oversee the film's release in Asia. Directed by PERFECT BLUE director