Based on the popular comic strip, ASTERIX AND THE VIKINGS will boast a $25 million budget, making it the most expensive European animated feature in history, reported THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The film is an adaptation of a 1967 album, which has Vikings kidnapping little warrior Asterix, so they can learn fear, thus gaining the power to fly. The film will be completely financed by French firm M6 and Denmark's Stefan Fjeldmark (HELP, I'M A FISH) will helm the 75-minute film. Fjeldmark also co-wrote the script with Belgian Jean-Luc Goossens.

A year into its making, Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) has unveiled a busy slate of five new projects with major animation directors and writers to create diverse, unbranded entertainment for a broad audience, as envisioned by co-chiefs, Sandra Rabins and Penny Finkelman Cox. The new stable hails from such blockbusters as THE LION KING, MONSTERS, INC., SHREK, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT and TOY STORY.

THE LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE, the theatrical version of the popular TV series LIZZIE MCGUIRE that debuted in second place at the U.S. box office, has been given the Disney greenlight for a sequel. The Walt Disney Co. struck a deal with writer Melissa Gould to write it, even though she did not pen the first film, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. TV series exec producer Susan Estelle Janson, Ed Decter and John Strauss wrote the first movie while Gould has served as a writer on the series.

Chatsworth Television Distributors has signed a number of video deals for its pre-school animation series BUSY BUSES (39 x 5), which will see its animated characters go multi-lingual.

Video distributor UFG will release the first French version title of the series on video and DVD in fall 2003 in France with more titles to follow. In Korea, two video titles have been released in Korean, as well as an English-language version accompanied by a teaching aid to help children learn English in a fun and effective way. BUSY BUSES airs on EBS, Korea and Kids Station, Japan.

Artisan Home Entertainment Inc. will issue TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (EXTREME EDITION), that will feature both high-definition and standard resolutions versions of the film for the first time on the same DVD. The two-disc set offers a digitally remastered theatrical version of the film in high-definition video and full surround sound on a single DVD-ROM in Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series. It offers an image nearly 3.5 times shaper than a standard DVD video and will require more horsepower to view it.

Twentieth Century Fox's X2: X-MEN UNITED generated the second-highest international gross ever for a day-and-date rollout, taking in $85.8 in the U.S. and another $69.4M internationally from 93 markets. Reviewers like this version of the Marvel Comics mutants better than the first movie. Contributing VFX to the blockbuster reigning in first place in the U.S. were Cinesite, EYETECH Optics, Frantic Films, Kleiser-Walczak Construction Co. and Rhythm & Hues. Disney's THE LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE launched in second place with a $17M take.

Episode III will further connect the STAR WARS saga, bridging the prequel trilogy to the original trilogy bringing back familiar faces and places in the new STAR WARS film, which is currently in pre-production. Reprising their classic roles from the original trilogy are actors Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca the Wookiee, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Kenny Baker as R2-D2.

Portland, Ore.-based Vinton Studios will produce its first full-length feature, Tim Burton's stop-motion animated film THE CORPSE BRIDE for Warner Bros. Pictures, it was reported by THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and confirmed by a WB spokesperson.

BRIDE is an offbeat fable about a young man who inadvertently becomes betrothed to a corpse. Based on a 19th century Eastern European folk tale, which is being adapted for the screen by Caroline Thompson (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS), Burton is producing the film with Mike Johnson making his directorial debut.

Actor Louis Gossett Jr. (ENEMY MINE, TOY SOLDIERS, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN), has signed on to the voice cast for the independent 3D animated fantasy/adventure film DELGO from Fathom Films. He joins a star-studded cast including Val Kilmer, Michael Clarke Duncan and Eric Idle. Gossett is voicing the character King Zahn, a benevolent but cautious leader whose plans for his people’s future are hindered only by his attachment to the past. Marc F. Adler, producer/co-director, said Gossett's voice is, "unique and the creativity he lends to his performance is inspiring.

Traditional animators' worst fears were realized as David Stainton, Disney's recently appointed head of feature animation, told the 525 animation employees gathered April 28, 2003 that he wants them to produce lush, classic fairy tales entirely on computers, according to a profile on the Disney exec in THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. Animation Website forums and chat rooms have been abuzz for some time about Disney possibly eliminating traditional animation altogether at its Burbank, California studio.

Take the animated adventures of a family of wildlife documentary filmmakers out in Africa home by way of Paramount Home Entertainment's release of THE WILD THORNBERRYS MOVIE on DVD and home video. The movie, produced by Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Movies, based upon the hit TV series, features the Oscar-nominated song by Paul Simon, "Father and Daughter" as a music video.

Sony/Revolutions' ANGER MANAGEMENT held its first place position at the weekend box office in the U.S., taking in another $25.6M to rack up at total of $80.6M in its first two weeks of release. Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Orphanage did VFX for ANGER.

Atlanta-based Fathom Studios is orbiting closer to Hollywood by signing Val Kilmer, Eric Idle and Michael Clarke Duncan to join the voice cast of its independently produced computer-animated film, DELGO. The first full-length CG flick from a U.S. indie has been receiving lots of online attention as Fathom posts digital dailies on its Website, www.delgo.com. The fantasy adventure is about troubled youth and some unlikely friends who must save the world from itself.