Walt Disney's Touchstone Pictures has hired director Gregor Jordan (BUFFALO SOLDIERS) to rewrite and direct the adaptation of John Christopher's THE TRIPODS TRILOGY, reports VARIETY. Disney has had the properties rights since 1997 and both Darren Lemke and Terry Hayes have written scripts based on the series.

Warner Bros. Pictures' THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE again set new records for an IMAX film by amassing more than $5.45 million from Dec. 26 through Jan.1, making it the highest grossing week in IMAX's history.

Universal’s MEET THE FOCKERS set two additional records over the New Years holiday weekend ended Jan. 2, 2005, while hauling in $41.7M: the largest New Years Eve gross of $12,140,181 and the largest New Years Day gross of $18,271,940. The impressive cume to date stands at $162.4M.

Hayao Miyazaki’s lastest HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE drew 1 million viewers in South Korea in its opening weekend, reports ASIA PULSE.

"Never before has any Japanese film reached such numbers in such a short period of time," Kang Eun-gyeong of Laughing Boa said.

The film opened on 237 screens in Korea on Dec. 23, 2004, becoming the first Japanese movie that ranked first in the local box office in its debut week (Dec. 23-26) with 770,000 viewers. Miyazaki’s last film SPIRITED AWAY was only seen by 2 million viewers in its entire run in Korean theaters.

CaféFX used its CG skills to recreate the 1935 world speed record-setting flight for THE AVIATOR, as well as additional shots of Howard Hughes’ reviewing a fleet of Lockheed Constellation aircraft.

CaféFX artists additionally used NewTek’s LightWave 3D in the production of content and shots for FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX and BLADE: TRINITY.

With Blue Sky Studios wrapping production on ROBOTS (which parent company Twentieth Century Fox will release March 11, 2005), director Chris Wedge took time out to talk to VFXWORLD about his eagerly-awaited follow-up to ICE AGE. The 3D-animated feature will open day-and-date in IMAX DMR on IMAX screens around the globe.

These days vampires don’t merely poof away with a fabled stake through the heart, they combust into bits and vaporize away. At least that’s what happens when vampires are vanquished in New Line Cinema’s BLADE: TRINITY, thanks to scanning technology from Eyetronics.

Universal’s MEET THE FOCKERS was a no brainer in its box office debut for the yuletide period ended Dec. 26, 2005. It took in a hefty $46.1M for the weekend and $70.5M for the five days, including a record-breaking $19.1M for Christmas Day.

However, the rest of the field was less impressive and overall box office for 2004 was barely ahead of last year, with attendance down for the comparable period.

POW! Entertainment and Stan Lee, the legendary creator of superheroes, has created a new superhero who, unlike all the others, is actually based on a living, breathing human being, performing his fantastic deeds in the real world. It’s based on Jay J. Armes, possibly the world's most successful and colorful crimefighter, who possesses steel-clawed prosthetic hands and a lie-detecting tiger.

Intuition and S2 Intl. have struck a project-by-project production alliance, reports VARIETY. The duo will first team on KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS director Michel Ocelot’s new animated feature, AZUR ET ASMAR.

Warner Bros. Pictures' THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE surpassed $20 million in total box office receipts in only six weeks to continue its record-setting pace for a commercial IMAX release.

Spurred by the box office success of the first animated PATORUZITO film, Jorge Rodriguez of Red Lojo Ent. has announced plans to exploit the franchise in features, television and merchandising, reports VARIETY. The story follows a boy who fights to claim the title of cacique (chief) of his tribe in Patagonia. A new studio will launch in April to handle the animation on the property.

In the latest jostling for prime release dates, Disney confirmed that VALIANT, the initial 3D-animated outing from Ealing Studio-based Vanguard Animation in the U.K. (the studio’s heir apparent to Pixar?) will fly in U.S. theaters on April 15, 2005. With Disney’s own CHICKEN LITTLE now flying the coop in November, this highly anticipated story of a World War II carrier pigeon should fill the bill nicely.

What do a disfigured musical genius, aviation pioneer Howard Hughes and a resurrected vampire have in common? This holiday season, their stories are being told using digital content creation tools from Discreet.

Paramount’s LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATELY EVENTS, with Oscar-contending vfx by ILM, finished first in its opening weekend with $30M for the period ended Dec. 19, 2004. Warner Bros.’ OCEAN’S TWELVE dropped to second with $18.1M for a two-weeks’ bounty worth $68.5M. Sony’s SPANGLISH debuted in third with $8.8M.

BLADE: TRINITY director David Goyer has signed on to write, produce and direct a film adaptation of DC Comics’ Flash for Warner Bros. Pictures, reports VARIETY. His won’t be the first time that Goyer has entered the DC superhero universe – he wrote the script for BATMAN BEGINS.

Hot on the heels of the record-setting THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE, IMAX and Warner Bros. Pictures will next bring Tim Burton’s CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY to IMAX theaters, day-and-date with conventional theaters on July 15, 2005. The event marks the seventh IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) collaboration between IMAX and Warner Bros.

CROUCHING TIGER’s Chow Yun-Fat is in negotiations to play the villain in the upcoming PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN sequels, reports APPLE DAILY. The actor’s wife, Jasmin Chan Wui-nin, said the actor will play the famous 19th century Chinese pirate Cheung Po Tsai for the second and third installments of the franchise. Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley are expected to return in their roles.

Sony Pictures Imageworks used Maxon’s BodyPaint 3D and Cinema 4D software in the development of Warner Bros.' THE POLAR EXPRESS. The grand landscapes, the beautiful digital environments and scenery were created utilizing Maxon's award-winning 3D programs.

Harrison Ford is set to star in the feature film version of the forthcoming Iraq War book, NO TRUE GLORY: THE BATTLE FOR FALLUJAH, reports VARIETY. Universal-based Double Feature partners Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher have optioned the book, which will be published by Bantam in May. Carla Santos Shamberg will produce with Shamberg and Sher.