Popular comic book cat and animated TV star GARIFELD will display his CGI stripes in a new live-action motion picture Twentieth Century Fox plans to release in U.S. theaters December 19, 2003. Peter Hewitt directs the picture, which is adapted from the syndicated cartoon strip created by Jim Davis and read in 2,600 newspapers by 260 million readers around the globe. The story starts as Garfield’s owner, Jon, takes in sweet but dimwitted pooch Odie, turning Garfield’s perfect world upside down.

DAREDEVIL managed to cling onto its top box office position at theaters in North America for a second weekend (primary vfx by Rhythm & Hues, Pixel Magic and Digital Domain), holding off a challenge from DreamWork's school party film OLD SCHOOL. The Marvel Comics blind superhero flick pulled in an estimated gross of $18.9M, and moved its estimated 10-day cume to a healthy $70.3M.

Moviegoers lifted DAREDEVIL out of relative comic book hero obscurity as the Twentieth Century Fox theatrical release starring Ben Affleck took in $43.5M, the biggest haul ever for a movie opening over Presidents Day weekend. Based on the Marvel Comics blind superhero, the film easily surpassed the previous best of $20.3M for last year's JOHN Q and was the second-best February debut ever behind HANNIBAL two years ago at $58M. Rich Thorne supervised visual effects for Fox with work done primarily by Rhythm & Hues, Pixel Magic and Digital Domain.

Banking on the success and visibility of THE JUNGLE BOOK and its many reissues over the past 35 years, Walt Disney tests the market for a new storyline and new songs featuring many of the same characters from the classic. THE JUNGLE BOOK 2 debuts Friday, February 14 in the U.S. Directed by Steve Trenbirth, produced by Christopher Chase and Mary Thorne, the original screenplay by Karl Geurs, picks up where man-cub Mowgli is torn between two words.

JM Entertainment, based in Seoul, Korea and Glendale, California, has started production on its first 2D/3D animated feature film THE TOY WARRIOR. Hollywood TV animation writer Brian Swenlin wrote the script about the Land of Toys, an imaginative world ruled by the popular doll, Princess Sherbert. When a dark force threatens her toy kingdom, Jinoo, a trouble-making boy from the real world, must save the day. JM Entertainment president Ji-Moon (Jeff) Lim and Seoul Movie president Chang-Rok Jun are executive producers.

Canada's first full-length 3D animated feature film P3K, PINOCCHIO 3000, is currently in production in Montréal, and has recently added Malcolm McDowell, Howie Mandel and Whoopi Goldberg to its cast of voices. McDowell plays Mayor Scamboli, a technocratic megalomaniac who rules the megapolis of Scamboville with an iron fist. Mandel plays Spencer, Gepetto’s trusted cyborg-penguin assistant who helps him create Pinocchio, a very special robot equipped with a one-of-a-kind P3K processor that endows him with the lively imagination of a youngster.

Moviegoers opted for comedy at this weekend's U.S. box office, with HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS, visual effects by Pixel Magic, debuting at number one with $23.7M. Cinesite and Effects Assoc. in the U.K. did visual effects for SHANGHAI KNIGHTS, which debuted at No. 2 with $19.6M. CHICAGO, with visual effects from Toybox and Film Effects Inc., moved up to third place, taking in $10.7 to bring its total to $63.8M, while THE RECRUIT, featuring effects by Pacific Title, dropped to fourth place with $9.2M and a cume of $29.8.

Richard Bazley, a lead animator on the animated features HERCULES, POCOHONTAS, OSMOSIS JONES and IRON GIANT, among others, has come on board as director of BA20's 78 x 7-minute Flash animation series RIP, THE ANGRIEST PIG IN THE WORLD. Created by cyberpunk author Steve Aylett, and produced by BA20 Entertainment, the series is described as "Tex Avery doing Beavis & Butthead." Bazley's company Bazley Films will produce the show in the U.K.

French animation studio Action Synthèse is currently in production on the upcoming CG feature THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, using SOFTIMAGE|XSI to animate this remake of the '60s children's cult television series. THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT will star Australian pop star Kylie Minogue as Florence and fellow singer Robbie Williams as the world-weary dog Dougal, along with ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS star Joanna Lumley as Ermintrude the cow.

Warner Bros. Pictures has subcontracted Cinesite Europe with all the model unit construction and miniature photography for the third HARRY POTTER film: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. Construction work will begin immediately on the models of Hogwarts, Privet Drive, a huge marble staircase and other significant structures within the film. The model building will continue until May 2003 at the Shepperton Studios workshops, with photography scheduled to begin in early June.