PLANET 51

With a budget of $60.7m (EUR41m), Ilion Studios' alien invasion animation is billed as the most expensive Spanish project of all time. It is the feature debut of director Jorge Blanco and is scripted by the Oscar-nominated Shrek writer Joe Stillman. "(Stillman) loved the project," says Ilion founder Ignacio Perez Dolset. "(Especially) the artistic freedom we can offer compared with Hollywood, where animation has become a standardised machine." The project is a co-production with the UK's HandMade Films.

LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS

Pedro Almodovar directs Penelope Cruz and Blanca Portillo in this 1990s-set drama involving a "four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of 1950s American film noir at its most hard-boiled," according to the director. The El Deseo-produced film is set to shoot from May.

AGORA

Following 2004's The Sea Inside, Alejandro Amenabar is now working on this historical drama set in early Egypt about a slave who turns to Christianity in the hope of obtaining freedom. The film stars Rachel Weisz and Rupert Evans and is currently shooting in Malta.

EL MAL AJENO

Alejandro Amenabar is acting as godfather for this medical thriller directed by Oskar Santos, written by Daniel Sanchez Arevalo (DarkBlueAlmostBlack) and set to star Belen Rueda. It is structured as a co-production between Sogecine and Amenabar's label, Himenoptero. Shooting is set to start in the coming months.

THE YELLOW MARK

Following The Oxford Murders, Alex de la Iglesias is working on a further English-language project based on the Belgian comic book, La Marque Jane. Jorge Guerricaechevarria has written the script.

UNTITLED ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU PROJECT

The Mexican director is set to follow Babel with a drama starring Javier Bardem, set to start shooting in Barcelona in May.

CELL 211

Directed by Daniel Monzon and co-written by Jorge Guerricaechevarria, this dark jail drama is about a riot that sparks a political meltdown. To be shot in claustrophobic, documentary-like style, the $5.2m (EUR3.5m) project is hoping for a Berlin 2009 debut. A co-production between Galician outfit Vaca, Morena Films, Telecinco Cinema, La Fabrique (France) and Valentim de Carvalho (Portugal).

THE ESCORIAL CONSPIRACY

Julia Ormond stars with Jason Isaacs and Jordi Molla in this true historical tale of skulduggery at Philip II's palace. Directed by Antonio del Real, who also owns co-producer Mascara Films, the $22.3m (EUR15m) project will be released in September in Spain, and is a co-production between Mascara, Germany's Rheingold Films, Italy's Settima Luna and Portugal's MGN Filmes.