Buena Vista Pictures Distribution has acquired the domestic distribution rights to Walden Media's adventure comedy, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, starring Jackie Chan. The film will be released by Walt Disney Pictures as a summer 2004 tentpole.

After only two weeks, Disney/Pixar's FINDING NEMO has sold a record-breaking 15 million units on DVD and another 5 million units on video, reeling in more than $360 million in total home entertainment revenue, according to Buena Vista Home Entertainment. That exceeds the nearly $340 million raked in at the North American box office this year, a record for animated features. In terms of DVDs, NEMO has surpassed THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (14.5 million units).

DigitalFilm Tree (DFT), a post and design company specializing in Final Cut Pro (FCP) consultation and implementation, collaborated with Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch to pioneer a Final Cut Pro editing workflow for his work on Anthony Minghella's COLD MOUNTAIN, Miramax's Civil War epic starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman and prime Oscar contender, due in theaters Christmas Day.

New Line's Christmas satire, ELF (with vfx by Rhythm & Hues and Amalgamated Pixels) won the box office weekend ended Nov. 16, 2003. After two weeks, ELF has grabbed a tidy $70.3M. Fox's Oscar contender, MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD, debuted in second place with a respectable but certainly not commanding $25.1M.

Production has been halted on the Walt Disney Co.'s A FEW GOOD GHOSTS at Feature Animation in Orlando, Florida (BROTHER BEAR, LILO & STITCH and MULAN) due to creative differences and subject matter deemed not "universally appealing." The shutdown falls on the heels of recent closures (Paris and Tokyo) and layoffs, including 50 at the Orlando facility.

Amman, Jordan-based Rubicon, Washington, DC-based Layalina Prods. and Los Angeles-based Fat Rock Ent. have teamed up to create a 13-episode series addressing the cultural gap that exists between the United States and the Arab world. Heading the project will be Rubicon ceo Randa Ayoubi, Layalina’s chairman Richard Fairbanks and Fat Rock ceo David Pritchard, who created the series. The project is intended to be a direct-to-DVD production, but will also air on satellite and television broadcast networks both in the Middle East and the U.S. The budget for the project is set at $5 million.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment plans to up the D-VHS ante by debuting five new titles this holiday season on JVC's D-VHS format, featuring JVC's D-Theater encryption and introducing for the first time optional DTS digital surround sound at the full bit rate of 1509 kbps. The titles include: X2 (Nov. 25), LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (Dec. 16), MOULIN ROUGE (Nov. 25), SPEED (Dec. 16) and TRUE LIES (Dec. 16).

Due to "overwhelming consumer demand and retailer orders for Buena Vista Home Entertainment's WALT DISNEY TREASURES WAVE 3," the highly anticipated and collectible limited series has been pushed back from December 2, 2003 to May 18, 2004. Apparently Technicolor is backed up with manufacturing orders (including FINDING NEMO, THE LION KING and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN), because, according to an official statement, "demand for the four titles in the upcoming wave has exceeded BVHE's ability to manufacture enough [units]."

Miramax has hired writer Brett Matthews to pen the theatrical installment of the LEGO BIONICLE franchise. Both the first and in-production second film in the series are direct-to-DVD releases. The BIONICLE story follows a group of intelligent biomechanical superheroes who battle the evil Makuta.

Walt Disney Home Entertainment ups the LILO & STITCH ante with a new DVD board game, LILO & STITCH'S ISLAND OF ADVENTURES ($29.99), available Nov. 11, 2003. In keeping with the home entertainment division's "immersive" theme, the DVD provides nearly 60 minutes of new content that expands the home theater family experience.

Spanish international sales firm Lumina Films has gained the overseas sales rights outside Spain to the Spanish 3D feature film MIDSUMMER DREAM, reported VARIETY. Dygra Films, producers of hit film THE LIVING FOREST, created the film. The $8 million film is a co-production with Portugal's Appia Filmes and is based on Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.

Giant Killer Robots (GKR), an Oscar-winning vfx boutique in San Francisco, provided pre-visualization, design, effects animation, rendering and final compositing services to create the subterranean metropolis Zion in THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS. GKR also served as a lead coordinating firm for critical action sequences in Zion that required photorealism and precise animation. REVOLUTIONS features vfx with a Japanese anime-like feel that blends fantasy and reality.

On the heels of Ridley Scott's new director's cut of ALIEN comes ALIEN QUADRILOGY, the ultimate box set of the sci-fi franchise and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's (TCFHE) most ambitious DVD project yet. Due Dec. 2, 2003 and priced at $99.98, QUADRILOGY contains four films, nine discs and 45 hours of bonus materials. Plus new vfx in ALIEN and ALIEN3 supplied by TCFHE and five houses (Svengali, R!OT, Encore, Frantic and Modern Video). There are 15 new CG shots in ALIEN, including CG blood, CG fire, wire removal and star fields.

Salma Hayek has joined the voice cast of Puerto Rico-based Muvi Films’ SIAN KA'AN that consists of Alfred Molina (FRIDA, Michelle Rodriguez (GIRLFIGHT), Cheech Marin (UP IN SMOKE) and opera legend Placido Domingo. The film will be recorded in both Spanish and English by the bilingual cast.

The popular KRAZY KAT cartoon series from King Features Syndicate back in the early '60s lands on DVD Nov. 11, 2003 in a two-disc set (Koch Vision, $29.98). Newly remastered and containing four hours of classic animation, the collection includes 39 episodes, including two extended bonus entries, featuring lovable Krazy Kat, Ignatz, the brick-throwing little mouse, and Offissa Pupp, inspired by cartoonist George Herriman's off-beat strip in 1913.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS topped the North American box office for the weekend ended Nov. 9, 2003, taking in $48.5 M, but fell 47% short of its predecessor, THE MATRIX RELOADED. However, REVOLUTIONS (with vfx by ESC FX, Animal Logic, BuF Compagnie, Giant Killer Robots, Tippett Studio and Tweak Films) in its revolutionary worldwide release broke the five-day overseas record with a yield of $201M. The third installment had stiff competition from New Line Cinema’s ELF (vfx from Amalgamated Pixels and Rhythm & Hues), which collected $31.1M for second place.

Walt Disney has greenlit two new 3D projects from LILO & STITCH creator Chris Sanders and veteran animator Glen Keane. Carolyn Soper, vp of production for Walt Disney Feature Animation, briefly discussed the projects at a Producer’s Guild function on Nov. 6, 2003.

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS made its worldwide debut on Nov. 5, 2003, taking in $43.1 million from 18,000 screens. The final installment in the cyber saga brought in $24.3 million in the U.S. and Canada where it played in 3,502 theaters. This amount makes it the third biggest Wednesday bow of all time in North America behind only STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE ($28.5M) and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS ($26.2M).

Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment announced that the FINDING NEMO DVD and VHS set a new first day sales record of eight million units sold, bringing in approximately $130 million, reported VARIETY. This feat beats Columbia TriStar's SPIDER-MAN’s first day sale record of 7 million units. The ocean adventure brought in $340 million at the box office making it the biggest grossing film of the year so far and estimates have the home entertainment versions of the fishy flick bringing in nearly $400 million in its first week.

DreamWorks has tapped commercial director Noam Murro to direct the sequel to the $129 million surprise hit, THE RING, reported VARIETY. The original film’s star Naomi Watts has already signed on to reprise her role. The film should start filming in January and is scheduled to hit theaters Nov. 10, 2004.