Fans of the animated Nickelodeon series, THE WILD THORNBERRYS, can now join Eliza Thornberry and her family on their cross-continental adventures with an exclusive offer through National Geographic. The two VHS sets follow the Thornberrys as they trek through Africa and Australia filming wildlife documentaries and getting mixed up in their crazy adventures along the way. Available exclusively through National Geographic, the two video sets can be purchased by calling 1-800-627-5162 or by ordering online at www.nationalgeographic.com.

yU + co explores the elusiveness and transience of memory in its absorbing main title sequence for the new John Woo thriller PAYCHECK, which opened Christmas Day through Paramount Pictures. The design studio's mercurial graphics, where words and names form out of random characters on a computer screen before being quickly erased, serve as a subtle metaphor for the conflict that besets the film's protagonist, who is engaged in a desperate struggle to reconstruct his past.

Platinum Studios has acquired the film rights to two indie comics – THE DARK FRINGE and RUST. Platinum head Scott Rosenberg will oversee the live-action projects.

FRINGE -- created, written and inked by Eman R. Torre for Atomic Rocket Prods -- follows a cop who must decide whether he can trust the top suspect in the murder of his wife to lead him to the possible true killer. RUST, created by Steve Miller, follows a man who is accidentally covered in metal and finds solace in sculpture.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING continued to rule the box office, grabbing $50.6M domestically over the weekend ended Dec. 28, 2003, and $222.2M for its first dozen days. Overseas brings the total RINGS take to $492M so far. KING also saw the biggest Christmas-day haul ever of $14.6M, a nice holiday present for New Line, director Peter Jackson and his crew and Weta Digital, which did most of the vfx.

Worldwide sales of the direct-to-video BARBIE OF SWAN LAKE have topped more than two million units through Entertainment Rights (excluding North America), via its home entertainment division, Rights Ent. This includes more than 400,000 units in the U.K., where the title has remained at number five on the children's chart after debuting at number one.

These figures follow the trend that began with Barbie's first direct-to-video feature, BARBIE IN THE NUTCRACKER and continued with BARBIE AS RAPUNZEL, which were also distributed through Entertainment Rights.

Disney has hired Grant Calof and Greg Lee to adapt David Wiesner's award-winning illustrated children's book THE THREE PIGS into an animated feature combining CG and traditional techniques, VARIETY reports. Like SHREK, PIGS is a postmodern take on classic fairy tales (this one was made famous by Disney, of course, in a 1933 Silly Symphony short).

Described as a combination of Joan Miró, Buster Keaton, Chuck Jones, Gene Kelly and Felix the Cat, the iconoclastic animator, actor, dancer, cinematographer and editor Grant Munro is paid tribute on the new DVD CUT-UP: THE FILMS OF GRANT MUNRO (Image, $29.99). Presented by The National Film Board of Canada (where Monroe worked) and Milestone Films, the disc features 109 minutes of significant hand-drawn and pixilated animation, live action and documentary shorts covering 1945-1983.

After successfully IMAXing THE MATRIX trilogy, IMAX and Warner Bros. Pictures will release the third installment of the HARRY POTTER film series, THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, in IMAX theaters in June 2004. The highly anticipated Alfonso Cuaron-directed feature is scheduled to open June 4 in conventional theaters. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN will be digitally re-mastered through proprietary IMAX DMR technology.

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, based on the popular book of the same name by C.S. Lewis, will begin production in New Zealand in early 2004, industry development minister Jim Anderton said in a statement. New Zealand-native Andrew Adamson, co-director of the Oscar-winning SHREK, will be directing the live-action film. The production will use stage space and personnel in Auckland.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING came out swinging like Gollum for that box office brass ring on Wednesday, Dec. 17, taking in a glorious $57.6M in theaters around the globe, according to New Line, including a record-breaking domestic gross of $34.1M and $23.5M in 19 territories overseas.

What’s next for IDT Ent., the Newark, New Jersey-based company that’s been on quite an animation buying spree of late? Engage Christopher Reeve (star of four SUPERMAN films, THE BOSTONIANS, SOMEWHERE IN TIME AND THE REMAINS OF THE DAY) to direct an original feature length animated film. The untitled film is described as an urban fable set in the 1930s, and is expected to be completed in early 2005.

Billed as a Victorian-era X-MEN, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, led by Sean Connery and a cast of legendary monsters, arrives on DVD on Dec. 16, 2003 (Fox Home Entertainment, $27.98).

The collision of RUGRATS and THE WILD THORNBERRYS into the RUGRATS GO WILD animated feature makes its way to DVD on Dec. 16, 2003 (Paramount Home Entertainment, $29.99). The Nickelodeon Movies/Klasky Csupo production offers both families marooned on a not so deserted island in the Pacific, with the bratty Angelica and Debbie basically stealing the show. Among the extras are deleted scenes, alternate ending, a behind-the-scenes featurette and exclusive interactive game.

SEABISCUIT, writer/director Gary Ross' acclaimed screen adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's revered bestseller about the legendary race horse and his place in American lore, comes to DVD Dec. 16, 2003 (Universal Home Entertainment, $26.98) with several noteworthy extras: commentary from Ross and director Steven Soderbergh, production notes, three featurettes ("Racing Through History," "Bringing the Legend to Life" and "Anatomy of a Movie Moment: From Script to Screen") and co-star Jeff Bridge's on-set photographs.

Finally, with SOUTH PARK'S pivotal third season, released on DVD on Dec. 16, 2003 (Paramount Home Entertainment, $49.99), fans get actual episode commentary - or "commentary-mini" - by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who riff for five minutes before all 17 episodes. Called a turning point by Parker and Stone, the third season from 2000 was actually produced while making the feature, SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT. The creators proclaim "Tweek vs.

When the Visual Information Technology laboratory at the Canadian National Research Council started developing its high resolution 3D scanners in the early 1980s, it probably had no idea that 20 years later one of its spin-offs, XYZ RGB Inc., would be contracted to help bring the characters of THE LORD OF THE RINGS to life on the big screen.

Counter-programming struck back at the box office, with the middle-aged romantic comedy SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE knocking THE LAST SAMURAI into second place for the weekend ended Dec. 14, 2003. The Sony film pairing Jack Nicholson with Diane Keaton scored $16M compared to the $14M collected by the Warner Bros. epic starring Tom Cruise (with vfx from Flash Film Works, Rising Sun and Matte World).

Walt Disney has confirmed members of the voice cast of its next 3D feature, CHICKEN LITTLE. TV series SCRUBS star Zac Braff will voice the lead character, which changes the original gender of the chick from female to male. Oscar nominee Joan Cusack (IN & OUT) will voice the ugly duckling with Steve Zahn (HAPPY, TEXAS) as a fat pig named Runt, Amy Sedaris (ELF) as Foxy Loxy, Katie Finneran (YOU’VE GOT MAIL) as Foxy's sidekick Goosey Lucy, Don Knotts (ANY GRIFFITH SHOW) as Turkey Mayor and Garry Marshall (ORANG COUNTY) as Father.

BAD BOYS II, which reunites director Michael Bay with stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for more stylized action and violence, hits DVD Dec. 9, 2003 (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, $28.96). Bolstered by vfx supplied by Sony Pictures Imageworks, the two-disc set contains lots of extras, including seven deleted scenes, featurettes devoted to vfx and stunts, six sequence breakdowns (with on-set footage, storyboards and scripts), 19 production diary featurettes and Jay-Z "La-La-La" music video.