Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has picked up U.S. distribution rights for the CG-animated kidpic “Planet 51.”

TriStar Pictures will release the film, which features the voices of Dwayne Johnson and Jessica Biel, on Nov. 20, 2009.

Alien adventure comedy centers on an astronaut who lands on Planet 51 thinking he’s the first to set foot on it. To his surprise, he discovers it’s inhabited by little green people who live in a white picket-fenced world reminiscent of 1950s America. Film is produced by Ilion Animation Studios.

Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Gary Oldman and John Cleese round out the voice cast.

New Line previously bought domestic distribution rights for the $50 million plus-budgeted film and had touted it as it as its first-ever CG-animated feature. After New Line was folded into Warner Bros. in February, “Planet 51″ became the domain of Warners and was set to be released by the studio in summer 2009.

Sources said Warner decided to let the pic go after the producers insisted on a November release, when Warner is releasing its sixth Harry Potter pic.

Ignacio Perez Dolset and Guy Collins are producing “Planet 51.” Peter Graves, Michael Ryan and Jose Rodriguez exec produce.

HandMade Films International is handling worldwide sales on the film. A “Planet 51″ videogame is being developed by Ilion.

“We could not ask for a more ideal partner,” said Guy Collins, chairman of HandMade Films Intl. “Sony is perfectly positioned to maximize the film’s box office potential.”

In further news coming out of the Cannes Film Festival, Daily Variety reports that TF1 in France and Moviemax Italia in Italy have acquired rights to the upcoming CG-animated family feature Planet 51. Co-financed and co-produced by London-based Handmade Films and Madrid’s Ilion Animation Studios, the $60 million production has enlisted Hollywood talent and was picked up by New Line Cinema for North American distribution late last year.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jessica Biel, Seann William Scott, Justin Long, John Cleese and Gary Oldman have signed on to lend their voices to the English-language version of Planet 51. The invasion story with a twist takes place on an alien world that bares a striking resemblance to suburban America in the 1950s. In this tale, the invader from outer space Earthling astronaut Capt. Chuck Baker (Johnson), causes panic when his spacecraft lands. In his efforts to avoid capture and get off the planet, Baker is befriended by a local boy named Lem (Long) and his goofy sidekick, Skiff (Scott). Biel will lend her voice to Neera, Lem’s love interest.

The movie was penned by Shrek writer Joe Stillman, and is directed by Jorge Blanco, the lead artist on the Commandos video game series created by Ilion’s parent company, Pyro Studios. Pyro has been simultaneously producing a video game based on the flick, which New Line plans to release sometime in 2009.

Planet 51 is produced by Ilion’s Ignacio Perez Dolest, with Handmade’s Guy Collins and Michael Ryan listed as co-producers, along with former Nickelodeon head Albie Hecht and Lola Film president Andres Vicente Gomez. Stillman, who collaborated on scripts for all three Shrek films, earned an Emmy nomination for his work on the Fox TV series King of the Hill, and also worked with Mike Judge on Beavis and Butthead.

The trend of animated movies swinging from fantasy to science fiction (with Wall-E and Space Chimps) continues with Planet 51, starring the Rock as a human astronaut who lands on a planet of xenophobic aliens who regard him as an invader. Written by Shrek scribe Joe Stillman, Planet 51 is a “reverse E.T.,” the Rock says. He gave away some new plot details for Planet, which he says is coming November 2009.

The 3-D film, which was originally supposed to be distributed by New Line but is now coming out on Warner Bros., is about astronaut Capt. Charles “Chuck” Baker, who leads an expedition to the title world, which is inhabited by those human-fearing aliens, who dress like humans from the 1950s. Says Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson:

Wow!
Already, some still photos from Jessica’s latest project, Planet 51 - From the writer of Shrek and Shrek 2! This is going to be really good! I cannot wait.. In UK the working title was “Planet One” so that’s what this image said, but for the USA title, it’s Planet 51! They look cute lol