Disney's in-development animated feature SWEATING BULLETS has gained a voice cast. Oscar winners Cuba Gooding Jr. and Judi Dench will join Sarah Jessica Parker and Ja'Net DuBois on the cast of the Western-themed musical. Randy Quaid is also in talks to voice a character. The story chronicles a group of cows who team together to save their farm. No production date has been announced, but the film has been in development for about three years.

With international numbers trickling in due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, it looks like CHARLIE'S ANGELS is charming audiences around the world. In its U.K. debut, ANGELS raked in a whopping US$4.52 million. After five-weeks in U.K. theatres, WHAT LIES BENEATH sunk to second, with a gross of $768,052, elevating its cume to $16.39 million. In fourth, BEDAZZLED danced in with $505,329, raising its U.K. cume to $3.92 million. LITTLE NICKY possessed 5th place, grossing $385,214, thereby growing its U.K. cume to $1.46 million.

For the second straight weekend, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS has captured the top spot at the U.S. box office. With the second highest all time five-day Thanksgiving holiday cume of US$73.8 million, THE GRINCH, with primary visual effects by Digital Domain, has nabbed an amazing $137.1 million in just ten days. Therefore, director M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to last year's sleeper hit, THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE had to settle for a second place debut.

Nickelodeon Films and Paramount Pictures have asked producer/actor Dan Schneider to pen the script for their next animated feature based on Keith Graves' short story PET BOY. The story will unravel the adventures of a pet-loving boy and his trip to an alien planet after discovering a secret alien pet selling operation at his local pet store. The project came to Nick as a pitch from Graves and producer John Williams. Schneider might be best known for his role as Dennis on the '80s sitcom HEAD OF THE CLASS.

Warner Home Video (WHV) will release the documentary CHUCK JONES: EXTREMES AND IN-BETWEENS, A LIFE IN ANIMATION on November 21, 2000. Whoopi Goldberg, Matt Groening, Ron Howard, John Lasseter, Leonard Maltin, Steven Spielberg and Robin Williams are among the stars featured in the film. The flick features never-before-seen artwork and original pencil sketches from Jones' personal archive in addition to clips from such classic works as RABBIT OF SEVILLE, WHAT'S OPERA, DOC?, ONE FROGGY EVENING, DUCK AMUCK, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! and Academy Award winner THE DOT AND THE LINE.

On Monday, November 20, 2000, DreamWorks announced it would release its US$186.6 million summer blockbuster GLADIATOR on Imax screens. The film will hit theaters in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Toronto and other major cities on Wednesday, November 22, one day after it hits video stores on VHS and DVD. The flick will be shown in its original 35mm format. No details on the financial terms of the deal between Imax and DreamWorks were released. When Disney's FANTASIA/2000 played on the giant screens in January, the two companies split the proceeds 50/50.

The critically acclaimed animated flick, CHICKEN RUN, will fly into video stores on November 21, 2000. Fans of the US$105 million box office hit will be able to own the death-defying adventures of Ginger and the rest of the Tweedy Farm hens as they race time to avoid the chopping block. The film features the voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha and Miranda Richardson. The DVD will feature audio commentary from directors Nick Park and Peter Lord, "The Hatching of CHICKEN RUN" featurette, a "making of" documentary and interactive games.

Despite the threat of an actors' strike at the end of June, Columbia Pictures and Amblin Entertainment have decided to start the production of MEN IN BLACK 2 on June 3. Priority will be set on New York exteriors and heavy effects shots. Therefore, if an actors' strike does disrupt shooting the visual effects artists can start on the effects in the interim. The first MEN IN BLACK stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are set to return with Barry Sonnenfeld reprising his role as director.

ADV Films and DIC will release the first two compellations of the popular TV anime series SAILOR MOON on November 21, 2000. The series is the story of Serena, a junior high school student who discovers that she has mystical powers and must defend the world against Queen Beryl and the evils of the Negaverse. ADV Films has licensed the first 82 episodes of the series from DIC and will be releasing them periodically. "The Legend Begins" and "The Power of Friendship" will be the first two volumes released, containing four episodes each. The tapes will retail for US$12.98 each.

GLADIATOR director Ridley Scott and mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer have teamed up to produce a new pirate picture entitled CAPTAIN KIDD, based on the life of the 17th century pirate. The film will be a co-production between Disney and Scott's Scott Free Films with Scott directing. Disney bought the idea in a near six-figure deal with writers Doug Cook and David Weisberg (THE ROCK and DOUBLE JEOPARDY).

Aardman Animations and BBC Video have announced they will be releasing "The Incredible Adventures of Wallace & Gromit" featuring all three of the Wallace & Gromit shorts. A GRAND DAY OUT has Wallace and Gromit traveling to the moon in search of cheese. THE WRONG TROUSERS chronicles the mishaps that ensue when Wallace takes in a shifty penguin as a lodger. A CLOSE SHAVE uncovers how Wallace and Gromit unravel a countrywide sheep-rustling ring. The volume will retail for US$19.98. Note the shrewd timing of this video -- on the same day that Aardman's CHICKEN RUN is released in stores!

SCARY MOVIE, WHAT LIES BENEATH and CHARLIE'S ANGELS all held strong at the international box office. In Italy, SCARY MOVIE debuted at #1 with a strong gross of US$2.28 million. Dropping a lofty 59%, X-MEN fell to sixth, grossing $466,646, thereby lifting its Italian cume to $4.1 million. In seventh, FREQUENCY channeled $460,570 in its Italian premiere. In France, SCARY MOVIE held onto the top spot with a gross of $2.32 million, raising its cume to $15.24 million. The French debut of SHAFT, therefore, had to settle for second, grossing $1.62 million.

ADV Films is releasing the third volume of the LOST UNIVERSE series on video November 14, 2000. The series is a zany space adventure following the exploits of the starship Swordbreaker and its crew. Included in the third installment, the crew's only bathroom gets lost in a giant maze. Each tape features 4 episodes. The first two volumes in the series were released earlier this year. The film retails for US$19.98 for English dubbed and $29.95 for English subtitled.

At this weekend's box office, Universal's HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS thieved the U.S. crown with a multi-record breaking premiere. The GRINCH grossed US$55.08 million, making it the biggest debut for star Jim Carrey and director Ron Howard, best non-holiday debut in November, biggest opening for a non-sequel and the eighth biggest weekend gross of all time. Therefore, Paramount and Nickelodeon's THE RUGRATS IN PARIS had to settle for a second place premiere. The second feature based on the wildly popular RUGRATS TV series, with animation by Klasky Csupo, grossed $22.72 million.

On November 14, 2000, Image Entertainment released the anthology film THE PUPPETOON MOVIE on DVD. The compellation of Pal's best Puppetoons was put together by Arnold Leibovit in 1987. The DVD features trailers, bonus Puppetoons and a new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. In September, Image released the documentary THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL. The doc includes interviews with Pal and many of the filmmakers he influenced, behind-the-scenes footage from DESTINATION MOON, trailers, production stills, art and rare promotional excerpts from DOC SAVAGE: MAN OF BRONZE.

John Logan, co-writer of DreamWorks and Universal's GLADIATOR, has been tapped to scribe the tenth installment of Paramount Pictures' STAR TREK film series. The currently untitled project will be produced by Rick Berman and will feature the cast from the STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION TV series. So far no director has been signed. The STAR TREK movie franchise has grossed more than US$1 billion at the box office and more than $5 billion with merchandising and home video revenue.

Anime 18 is set to unveil MASQUERADE "Darkness of Love" on video November 14, 2000. From Masaki Kajishima, the creator of PHOTON, MASQUERADE is an erotic thriller that delves into the desires and devastation of discovering eternal life. The video will sell for US$29.99.

ADV Video is about to release the ninth installment in the BUBBLEGUM CRISIS: TOKYO 2040 series. Hitting stores November 14, 2000, "Kill Zone" will continue the adventure of the Knight Sabers in their mission to save Tokyo from the evil Genom. The new installment will include episodes 19 and 20. Volume 10-12 will be released on December 5, 2000, January 23 and February 13, 2001 respectively. The tapes sell for US$19.98 for English dubbed and $29.95 for English subtitled.

Stan Lee Media (SLM) has signed a deal with Warner Bros. Pictures to develop a new feature film based on the Conan character. Andy and Larry Wachowski, creators of THE MATRIX, have signed on to produce with CONAN THE BARBARIAN director John Milius set to write and direct. The deal allows SLM to exploit the brand across several media outlets with an animated series in the works for television and Internet distribution. SLM only bought the rights to Conan from Conan Properties, Inc. in September.

ADV Films is releasing the first three episodes of the first 3D animated TV series REBOOT on VHS and DVD. Produced by Mainframe Entertainment, REBOOT chronicles the adventures of Bob and his friends as they surf cyberspace in search of their missing friend. The release will retail for US$14.95 VHS and $24.98 DVD. Currently, REBOOT airs on Cartoon Network in their Toonami programming block.