It seems Rihanna isn’t going to let one leaky blockbuster sink her fledgling acting career. Today comes word that the pop singer will join with Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) to star in DreamWorks Animation’s Happy Smekday!. It’s an adaptation of Adam Rex’s children book The True Meaning of Smekday, which finds a group of aliens invading earth on Christmas Eve (renaming the holiday “Smekday”) after being booted from their own planet by a villainous race called the Gorg. The story takes the form of an essay written by main character Tip, an 11-year-old human who travels cross-country with the alien that inadvertently put Earth on the Gorg’s radar. It will be helmed by Antz co-director Tim Johnson. Hit the jump for more.

As we’ve previously reported, DreamWorks Animation is not only planning a sequel to their terrific film How to Train Your Dragon, but they’re developing an animated series for Cartoon Network as well.  BadTaste.it recently spoke with executive producer Tim Johnson about their plans for the sequel as well as the animated series.  Johnson says that (unsurprisingly), the sequel (which is due out in 2013) will be massive and they’re in the process of figuring out the new sets and characters.  As for the TV series, while DreamWorks Animation is pushing a Kung Fu Panda series onto Nickelodeon, HTTYD is going to Cartoon Network because DWA want to keep the more dramatic and darker edge of Dragon, and the challenge is in keeping that tone.

Hit the jump for Johnson’s in-depth answers on the sequel and TV series.  How to Train Your Dragon co-director Dean DeBlois is helming the sequel with the original voice cast set to return.