Richard Linklater's latest film, the animated feature WAKING LIFE, has been acquired by Fox Searchlight and will hit theaters later this year. Fox Searchlight acquired the worldwide distribution rights in a deal negotiated by the company’s executive VP Joseph de Marco and John Sloss of the indie financing company Cinetic. The movie debuted to critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Emmy-nominated director Chris Prynoski, best known for his work on BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA and the animated series MTV DOWNTOWN, has completed animation work on Tom Green's upcoming feature film FREDDY GOT FINGERED. In the film, Green plays a bizarre animator who desperately tries to win his father's approval. Prynoski, known for his edgy, underground style, provides animation that launches Green's skewed creations onto the big screen.

POKEMON 3, the third feature installment of the POKEMON trilogy, debuted in fourth place at the box office this weekend, taking in $9.18 million. SPY KIDS, Robert Rodriguez’ new espionage yarn, with primary visual effects by Hybride Technologies, captured first place for the second week in a row, grossing $17.8 million, with $49 million accumulated thus far. ENEMY AT THE GATES fell from sixth to seventh, grossing $3.45 million.

Look! Effects, a Hollywood, California digital effects and 3D
animation company, has completed a 5-minute 3D computer animation
sequence for Metaphor Films and Gotham Entertainment's independent
feature FIRST WATCH. Featuring detailed models of planets, stars,
their surfaces and movements that were based on some of the latest
astronomical imaging and scientific data available, the sequence
consists of a single, extended pull back where the camera lifts out
of an aerial view of the Earth, travels through the Solar System,

SPY KIDS, Robert Rodriguez’ new espionage yarn, with primary visual effects
by Hybride Technologies, captured first place at the box office this
weekend, grossing $27.0 million. ENEMY AT THE GATES fell from fourth to
sixth, grossing $5.3 million. The WWII sniper saga, with primary visual
effects by Das Werk, Die Nefzers, Double Negative, The Computer Film Company
and AudioMotion Ltd., has accumulated $34.2 million thus far. Dropping from
sixth to eighth was CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, which collected another

In a weekend with lackluster results at the box office, ENEMY AT THE GATES fell from second to fourth, grossing $8.4 million. The WWII sniper saga, with primary visual effects by Das Werk, Die Nefzers, Double Negative, The Computer Film Company and AudioMotion Ltd., has accumulated $26.2 million thus far. Staying in the sixth spot was CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON which collected another $4.62 million. The Oscar winner for best foreign film, with primary visual effects by Blue Sky Studios, CFC/MVFX and Manex Visual Effects, has amassed $106.26 million.

TriStar Pictures has announced that it will be putting the animated feature THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN into theaters for a limited release on May 11, 2001. Based on the novel by E.B. White, the film follows the adventures of Louie, a mute trumpeter swan who takes extraordinary steps to compensate for his lack of voice.

Threshold Entertainment, a multimedia and intellectual property management company, announced that Dimension Films has acquired the project DUKE NUKEM: THE MOVIE. The film will be produced by Larry Kasanoff (TRUE LIES, MORTAL KOMBAT) and Threshold Entertainment. Based on the US$1 billion gaming franchise by 3-D Realms, NUKEM follows the politically incorrect title character as he travels into space to intercept an alien ship on a collision course for Earth.

HANNIBAL held strong at the international box office with debuts of TRAFFIC topping charts in Australia and Italy. In France, however, HANNIBAL fended off the premiere of TRAFFIC, taking the top slot with a gross of US$3.17 million and raising its cume to $9.4 million. In second, TRAFFIC smuggled in $2.48 million. VERTICAL LIMIT climbed into the sixth spot, grossing $807,368, thus lifting its French total to $5.15 million. In the U.K., HANNIBAL hatched another $2.52 million in first, elevating its cume to $26.1 million.

With Steven Seagal and rapper DMX's EXIT WOUNDS topping the charts in the U.S., ENEMY AT THE GATES shot into second. The WWII sniper saga, with primary visual effects by Das Werk, Die Nefzers, Double Negative, The Computer Film Company and AudioMotion Ltd., collected US$13.81 million in its debut. Warner Bros.' SEE SPOT RUN slipped to fourth, grossing out audiences to the tune of $5.01 million. The gaseous giggler has amassed $24.81 million thus far. In sixth, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON secured another $4.04 million.