HandMade, the film rights and production company, reported yesterday that New Line Cinema, the multi-media company that is behind some of the most successful film franchises in history, had acquired the US distribution rights for the $60 million (£29 million) CGI animation feature ‘Planet 51’ from HandMade.

In March 2007, HandMade joined Madrid-based Ilion Animation Studios as the UK production partner and worldwide sales agent for the studio’s first animation film, Planet 51.

Planet 51, which was written by Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner Joe Stillman, writer of Shrek and Shrek 2, is currently in production and will be completed and theatrically released in 2009.