Those damn bloody apes of PLANET OF THE APES ruled the U.S. box office in their debut weekend. The re-envisioned PLANET, with primary visual effects by ILM, lassoed US$69.55 million. Dropping to second, JURASSIC PARK III racked in another $22.5 million. The dino disaster, with primary visual effects by ILM, has feasted on $124.8 million in only two weeks in U.S. theaters. Also dropping a spot to land in sixth, CATS & DOGS brought home an additional $4.52 million. The pet warfare flick, with primary visual effects by Tippett Studios and Rhythm & Hues, has drummed up $81.52 million to date. DR.

People still like dinosaurs. JURASSIC PARK III roared into first place at the weekend box office with an astounding US$50.3 million. The pterodactyl tirade, with primary visual effects by ILM, has rounded up $80.9 million since its Wednesday debut. Family fave CATS & DOGS fell from third to land on its paws in fifth, grossing another $6.77 million. The canine comedy, with primary visual effects by Tippett Studios and Rhythm & Hues, has caterwauled in $72.38 million to date. SCARY MOVIE 2 placed in seventh, grossing out audiences to the tune of $4.4 million.

VARIETY reports that Dreamworks is offering Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz US$5 million apiece to reprise their roles for the SHREK sequel. For the first film the three stars deferred most of their salary to the backend. With SHREK's gross standing at over US$240 million, each has made approximately $3 million on the film so far. Murphy is reportedly the first to negotiate his deal, which will dictate how much the others will receive.

Last week’s #1, Warner Bros.' CATS & DOGS falls to third behind the debut of live-action flicks LEGALLY BLONDE and THE SCORE. CATS & DOGS nipped another US$12 million. The puppy-powered pic, with primary visual effects by Tippett Studios and Rhythm & Hues, has licked up approximately $48 million in two weeks. The much-hyped FINAL FANTASY: SPIRITS WITHIN faltered in its debut, only taking in $11.5 at #4. Produced by Sony and Square Co.

On July 11, Columbia Pictures released FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN in digital cinema format in seven theaters. The seven cities that will display the film digitally are: AMC Empire, New York City, New York; Edwards Irvine Spectrum, Irvine, California.; AMC Media 6, Burbank, California.; Cinemark Legacy, Dallas, Texas; Famous Players Paramount, Toronto; AMC Barrington, Chicago, Illinois; and the AMC Van Ness, San Francisco, California.

Warner Bros.' CATS & DOGS edged out Dimensions SCARY MOVIE 2 for the Independence Day weekend box office crown. The puppy and feline fracas, with primary visual effects by Tippett Studios and Rhythm & Hues, barked up US$21.67 million over Friday-Sunday and $35.72 million since Wednesday. SCARY 2, with primary visual effects by Artist's Asylum, laughed in $21 million over the weekend and $34.5 million since its debut on Wednesday. Steven Spielberg's A.I.: ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE dropped over 50% from its opening gross to take home $14.15 million in third.

Aardman Animations has halted work on TORTOISE VS HARE. The Bristol-based studio plans to start production up again in six months after script problems are worked out. Due to the hiatus 90 out of its 172 crew were laid off, but Aardman hopes to rehire them once production begins again. "The characters have got to be fleshed out," Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff said.

Revolution Studios has announced the stars attached to its Flash animated feature film LIL' PIMP. Bernie Mac, Jennifer Tilly, William Shatner and Carmen Electra have already signed on to voice characters in the film, which is based on the Web series of the same name. Rapper/thesp Lil' Kim is in final talks join the cast as well. The film is scheduled to hit theatres in 2002.

Santa Monica-based digital.art.media has announced their work helping DR. DOLITTLE 2 lead VFX studio, Rhythm & Hues, on 53 shots. digital.art.media helped created the lip synch needed to make many of the animal characters talk. "New systems could not circumvent the need for thousands of man-hours to be expended on very tedious artistic work," said Marc Kolbe, president of digital.art.media. "But the effort is worth it when you see the movie.

Warner Bros. & DreamWorks SKG’s A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, Steven Spielberg’s futuristic tale about a boy robot (Haley Joel Osment), who dreams of being something more, finished at the top of the pack in this weekend’s box office. In its first weekend of release, the film took in an estimated $30.1 million. 20th Century Fox’s DR. DOLITTLE 2 dropped one spot to #3. Starring Eddie Murphy, the sequel to the 1998 remake of the 1967 film about a doctor who can "talk with the animals," took in an estimated $15.4 million, for a two week cumulative of $51 million.

20th Century Fox’s DR. DOLITTLE 2 debuted in the number two spot in this weekend’s box office. Starring Eddie Murphy, the sequel to the 1998 remake of the 1967 film about a doctor who can "talk with the animals," took in an estimated $26.7 million. Paramount Pictures’ TOMB RAIDER dropped to #3 after its smash debut last week. The Angelina Jolie action-adventure flick took in an estimated $20.2 million, bringing its two week cumulative to $84.2.

Manga Entertainment is set to release Japan's first fully-digitally-animated feature BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE. Produced by Japan's Production IG Studios (GHOST IN THE SHELL), BLOOD will be released in select theatres this summer and on DVD/VHS on August 28, 2001. The film takes place in the fall of 1966 and sends a young assassin Saya (SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS' Youki Kodoh) into an American school within the Yokota military compound to uncover and eliminate the blood-sucking menace. The film was directed by Hiroyuki Kitakub. As part of this year's RESFEST, the film will be screened digitally.

Paramount Pictures’ TOMB RAIDER leaped into #1 in this weekend’s box office, taking in an estimated $48.2 million. Disney’s ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE debuted at #2, with a respectable, if not spectacular $20.4 million. DreamWorks' CG film, SHREK, continued to post solid numbers, moving down only one notch to #3 with $12.9 million, bringing its five week cumulative to $197.2 million. Warner Bros.' SWORDFISH dropped to the #4 spot with $12.15 million, bringing its two week cumulative to $39.21.

Howard Schwartz Recording (HSR), a leading audio facility, is recording the voice tracks for the Columbia Pictures' STUART LITTLE 2. Produced by Sony-based Red Wagon Productions, and directed by Rob Minkoff, the film is scheduled for release on July 19th, 2002. HSR engineer Bill Higley has been recording the actors directly from microphone to DAT for the sequel. The voice cast includes Michael J. Fox as Stuart, Nathan Lane as Snowbell the cat, Melanie Griffith as Margalo the bird and Steve Zahn as Monty.

Warner Bros.' SWORDFISH hooked the top spot this week, debuting with $18.15 million. DreamWorks' CG film, SHREK, held its ground at #2 with $16.52 million, taking in a cumulative $176.07 million total in its four week run. Buena Vista's PEARL HARBOR lost its #1 spot, dropping to third place with $14.72 million, bringing its three week total to $143.99 million. DreamWorks' special effects comedy, EVOLUTION, made its debut in forth place with $13.41 million. THE ANIMAL made $9.61 million, down to #5 from #3 with a cumulative total of $35.65 million.

Buena Vista’s PEARL HARBOR held off SHREK to remain box office champ this week, grossing $29.5 million, for a two week cumulative total of $118.8 million. DreamWorks' CG-animated film SHREK stayed hot at the box office, bringing in another $28.1 million in its third week of release, for a cumulative total of $148.4 million. Universal's THE MUMMY RETURNS slipped to #6 for its fifth weekend with $7.7 million, boasting a cumulative total of $181.1 million. Sony's A KNIGHT'S TALE jousted the seventh slot at $3.4 million, with a $49.4 cumulative total.

IMAX Corporation has announced that Steve Oedekerk's original animated film, SANTA VS. THE SNOWMAN, will be reformatted into IMAX 3D and anchor a special IMAX holiday film program launching in November 2002. Produced by Oedekerk's O Entertainment, animated by DNA productions with additional footage being animated by Omation, a division of O Entertainment, the film features the voices of Oedekerk, Emmy Award-winning comic Jonathan Winters, Ben Stein and Victoria Jackson. SANTA VS.

In the wake of the tremendous opening of their latest computer-animated comedy SHREK, DreamWorks has announced on May 31, 2001 their plans for a theatrical sequel. According to DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the writing team behind the first SHREK screenplay, have been set to pen the sequel. The team has also collaborated to write the Oscar-winning animated musical ALADDIN, which became the top-grossing film release of 1992.

On May 8, 2001 Argus International Film Studio signed an agreement with Germany’s MC-One to produce THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING, a 70-minute animated film based on the well-known fairy tale by Hoffmann and ballet by Tchaikovsky. Directed by Tatiana Ilyina, the Russian version of the animated feature will be available at the end of 2002. The 3-minute pilot copy for THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING was awarded the World Gold Medal for best animation at the 1999 New York festivals and was in official selection at Annecy 2000.

Exploding into the top spot at the box office this Memorial Day weekend was Buena Vista’s PEARL HARBOR, which made a triumphant nationwide debut, grossing $75.1 million. The 3-hour, action-packed movie is set during the time of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, where two friends (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) are caught up in the events that draw the United States into World War II. DreamWorks' CG-animated film SHREK more than withstood the heavy bombardment, slipping down one notch from first to second with $54.2 million during its second weekend.