Roy Disney has agreed to help director Richard Williams restore his masterpiece, THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, to the version he had originally intended to make. The heart-wrenching saga of the THIEF began after Williams’ success on WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? With the backing of Warner Bros., the filmmaker set out to finish his then 20 years in the making feature about a mute cobbler and an unsuccessful thief. The stipulation attached to the project was that Williams must finish the film for a 1992 release. The production fell behind schedule and Warner Bros.

Harvey Entertainment has announced their acquisition of the U.S. rights from Pearson Television International for the feature-length film A MONKEY’S TALE. The film follows the story of two tribes of monkeys – one tree dwelling and one ground dwelling – and what happens when one curious ape falls into the other tribe’s world. The film recently won best animated feature at the Hollywood Film Festival and the Toronto Sun Animation Award at the Sprockets International Film Festival for Children.

In London for the sold out SIMPSONS live script reading stage show, SIMPSONS creator Matt Groening confirmed that a SIMPSONS feature is in the planning stage. Groening said, "It’s a little daunting coming up with a half-hour TV episode, let alone a full-length feature. No deals have been struck, but we will do one." The television classic is now in its tenth season and is the longest running sitcom on U.S. television

In a lackluster weekend at the U.S. box office, early reports had Sony’s HOLLOW MAN and Warner Bros.’ SPACE COWBOYS running neck-and-neck for the top spot, but in the end MAN finished first by a nose. HOLLOW, with primary visual effects by The Ranch Entertainment, Tippett Studios and Sony Imageworks, held on to first place, adding US$13.05 million to its $50.3 million cume. COWBOYS, with primary visual effects by ILM, moved up a spot to settle for second and a gross of $13.02 million, bringing its 10-day cume to $39.02 million.

After its first full week in theatres, THE PATRIOT finished at the top in Germany, Spain and Brazil. In Germany, THE PATRIOT fought out the debut of CHICKEN RUN with a gross of US$1.62 million, bringing its cume to $6.05 million. CHICKEN came in with a gross of $1.35 million. Dropping two slots to fourth, THE PERFECT STORM washed up $569,269, advancing its cume to $9.63 million. TITAN A.E. premiered in fifth with a gross of $491,902. Slipping to sixth, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 added $463,141 to its German cume of $23.08 million.

A long list of Hollywood heavyweights has been announced as the voice cast for Disney/Pixar’s upcoming CGI feature MONSTERS, INC. The star-studded cast includes Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tily, Bonnie Hunt and first-timer Mary Gibbs. The film chronicles what happens when a careless monster lets a human girl into the land of spooks and scares. Goodman will voice James P. Sullivan, a large, furry and horned employee of Monsters Inc. Voicing Sullivan’s sassy one-eyed sidekick will be Crystal.

In a lackluster weekend at the U.S. box office, early reports have Sony’s HOLLOW MAN and Warner Bros.’ SPACE COWBOYS finishing neck-and-neck for the top spot. COWBOYS, with primary visual effects by ILM, moved up from third to claim an early-tally share of #1, with a gross of $13.1 million, bringing its 10-day cume to $39.1 million. HOLLOW, with primary visual effects by The Ranch Entertainment, Tippett Studios and Sony Imageworks, held on to a piece of first place, adding 13.1 million to its $50.4 million cume.

For the live-action feature SIMONE, writer-director Andrew Niccol (THE TRUMAN SHOW) has decided to go completely CGI for the title character in the New Line Cinema drama. According to the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, the CGI actress will star opposite Al Pacino, who will play a Hollywood film producer. The story centers on the life-changing challenges of an aspiring young actress who becomes a movie star overnight. In a move that marks actors’ worst nightmares, Niccol decided to go with the computer-generated lead after unsuccessfully testing several young, up-and-coming actresses.

Former Disney chairman Joe Roth’s Revolution Studios will turn the Web series, LIL’ PIMP, into a Flash-animated feature. The MediaTrip.com series will be the first feature length film to be animated using Macromedia’s Flash software. Creators Paul Gilstrap and Mark Brooks with their team of four animators are set to scribe, produce and direct the project. Production on the flick could begin as early as three to four weeks. No monetary details have been released, however Gilstrap and Brooks look to make most of their money from backend revenues.

Berkeley Breathed, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and children’s author, is set to make his directorial debut with the filmed version of his newest book, EDWURD FUDWUPPER FIBBED BIG. Nickelodeon Movies and Storyopolis are set to produce the seven-minute short. The book will be released next month by Storyopolis and Little, Brown Co. Sources say the film will screen in theatres in the fall, which might signal its attachment to the release of RUGRATS IN PARIS, but no official word has been announced.

With several debuts around the globe, THE PATRIOT has won the war for international box office supremacy. Premiering at #1 in Germany, the Mel Gibson-starrer grossed a hefty $3.23 million. Slipping to second, THE PERFECT STORM garnered $1.29 million, raising its German cume to $8.62 million. Down one to #4, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 added another $1.01 million to its $22.42 million German cume. At #8, THE TIGGER MOVIE rounded up an additional $206,761, bringing its German cume to $3.97 million. In its 10th week in Germany, GLADIATOR grossed $119,979 in tenth, advancing its cume to $19.99 million.

With three major releases this past weekend, Sony Picture’s HOLLOW MAN was far from invisible at the U.S. box office, finishing in first place. The INVISIBLE MAN redux, with primary visual effects by The Ranch Entertainment, Tippett Studios and Sony Imageworks, grossed US$26.41 million, giving it the second largest August opening in history. Falling to second, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS dropped 58% from its debut weekend, with a gross of $18.17 million. The phat festival, with primary visual effects by Double Negative Ltd., has rounded up $76.7 million thus far.

With MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 still holding on in many countries, PERFECT STORM’s debut in Hong Kong and the U.K. shook up the international box office. Finishing at the top spot in the U.K., STORM grossed US$2.86 million over the weekend and $3.25 million since its Wednesday nod. Slipping to #2, STUART LITTLE grossed $2.08 million, advancing its British cume to $9.59 million. The U.K. sensation, CHICKEN RUN, amassed another $1.82 million in third, bringing its cume to $28.85 million.

Disney’s newest animated feature LILO AND STITCH has begun production. The long in the works project has begun initial production at Disney’s Orlando animation studio. Some of the production is scheduled to be done in Hawaii where the story is based. The film tells the tale of a Hawaiian girl who adopts a dog that is really an evil space alien. Jason Scott Lee (RUDYARD KIPLING'S THE JUNGLE BOOK) has signed on to voice a muscular, tanned surfboard salesmen, while Tia Carrere (WAYNE’S WORLD) will voice Lilo's sister.

In typical summer blockbuster fashion, the newly released NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS has dethroned last week’s U.S. box office champion WHAT LIES BENEATH. The KLUMPS’ Eddie Murphy-marathon, with primary visual effects by Double Negative Ltd., finished in first place with a gross of US$42.52 million. WHAT LIES came in at second with a gross of $22.86 million. The Harrison Ford haunter, with primary visual effects by SPI, has rounded up $69.35 million in only 10 days in release. In third, THE X-MEN grossed $12.68 million.

Lucasfilm and fledgling Japanese anime company, Anime World Osaka, have agreed to co-produce an animated feature film entitled, THE TINY FAIRY MIRUN. As reported in YOMIURI SHIMBUN, George Lucas will executive produce the project. Osaka is set to provide the US$18.5 million budget. Lucas is scheduled to go to Osaka in September after production calms down on STAR WARS EPISODE II to sign the official contract. In a flip-flop of the usual process, Anime World will create the master illustrations in Osaka and ship the drawings to Lucasfilm for in-betweens.

With more summer blockbusters arriving in international theatres, the old guard is weaning. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, however, is still strong, finishing atop the charts in Italy, Sweden Japan and Spain. In its second week, M:I 2 grossed another US$700,928 in Italy, raising its cume to $6.82 million. GLADIATOR is losing its power, slipping a spot in Italy to finish at #4 with a gross of $103,693, bringing its Italian cume to $8.64 million. In Sweden, GLADITOR also finished in 4th place with a gross of $217,952, advancing its cume to $3.93 million.

The live-action cast for OSMOSIS JONES just keeps getting bigger. SNL’s Molly Shannon and Chris Elliot have been added to the live-action cast, which includes Bill Murray. The story centers on a man (Murray) who gets sick and the white blood cell (voiced by Chris Rock) and cold pill (voiced by David Hyde Pierce) that race to battle the virus overtaking his body. The animated portion will take place in Murray’s body, while the live-action takes part in the outside world. Shannon will play Murray’s daughter’s schoolteacher and Elliot will play Murray’s best friend.

Scaring the mutants out of #1, DreamWorks’ WHAT LIES BENEATH finished atop the U.S. box office charts. The haunted house horror flick, with primary visual effects by SPI, grossed US$29.7 million. Slipping to second, THE X-MEN, with primary visual effects by Cinesite, CORE Digital, Digital Domain, Hammerhead Productions, Kleiser-Walczak Co., Matte World and POP Film, dropped 56% from its opening weekend, but still racking up another $23.47 million.

With nods in Brazil and Hong Kong, Disney’s DINOSAUR roams atop the box office charts. In Brazil, the special effects spectacle landed $2.65 million in its debut. Whereas in Hong Kong, the blue-green beasts stomped out an amazing $1.29 million on only 43 screens! The prehistoric pic adds another name to the long time three way battle between MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, GLADIATOR and GONE IN 60 SECONDS for international box office glory. Back in Brazil, M:I 2 fell to second with a gross of $1.89 million, bringing its Brazilian cume to $5.63 million.