Vin Diesel will reprise his break-out role as PITCH BLACK's anti-hero Richard B. Riddick in THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, a sci-fi action/adventure that just started shooting for Universal Pictures, in association with Radar Pictures and One Race Prods. Co-starring Colm Feore, Alexa Davalos, Karl Urban, Linus Roache, Thandie Newton and Dame Judi Dench the film is written and directed by David Twohy (BELOW and PITCH BLACK), produced by Scott Kroopf (THE LAST SAMURAI and PITCH BLACK) and Vin Diesel (XXX).

Maybe a little "Yo ho, yo ho…" is just what the summer needs to get out of its current box office doldrums. Not that Disney is complaining, what with Pixar's FINDING NEMO breaking all kinds of records.

TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES may have won the Independence holiday box office race for Warner Bros., taking in $44M for the weekend and $72.3M for the five-day period (bolstered by the combined VFX of Industrial Light + Magic, Anatomorphex, Pacific Data Images, Pacific Titles & Optical and Stan Winston Studio), but the big story was FINDING NEMO.

Despite a recent comment by Sean Connery (while promoting THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN in Las Vegas) that Steven Spielberg might not direct INDY IV, a spokesman for the director told VFXWorld.com that he fully intends to shoot the movie in 2004 for release in the summer of 2005.

"Somebody, somewhere, must have misunderstood something," the spokesman said. "The

STAR WARS EPISODE III, the last of the prequels to the legendary George Lucas franchise, began shooting at Fox Studios Australia, June 30, 2003. According to Starwars.com, the first scenes were shot in a new set environment with returning stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) and Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi). Also on set was R2-D2. The final installment will see Peter Mayhew reprise his role as Chewbacca, a part he has not played since THE RETURN OF THE JEDI in 1983.

HP's Linux-based technology played a critical role in the creation of DreamWorks' SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS, which opens theatrically July 2, 2003. The first film ever created entirely on Linux, SINBAD was developed on HP workstations and servers.

DreamWorks’ adventure SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS hits theaters on July 2, 2003, but can it fend off tough competition from live-action films like Warner Bros. and Columbia/TriStar’s TERMINATOR 3:RISE OF THE MACHINES or MGM’s LEGALLY BLONDE 2: RED, WHITE & BLONDE? With the track record of 2D features of late, it looks like an upward battle for the tradigital picture, which was directed by Tom Johnson and Patrick Gilmore, featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones Joseph Fiennes and Michelle Pfeiffer.

A free, limited edition read-along CD of SHREK AND FIONA'S HONEYMOON STORYBOOK will be given away to every child attending during the opening weekend of DreamWorks' SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS. The exclusive giveaway lasts July 2-6, for as long as supplies last.

The read-along storybook, which has an estimated value of $9.95, will be given away, one per child, with each paid admission. Theater managers will also have a limited number of rain checks on hand with instructions on how a child can receive his or her CD if the supply runs out before the end of the weekend.

Sony's CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE (with Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Orphanage supplying the bulk of the VFX) may have won the box office derby, but its $37.6M was less than spectacular. So far, the 2003 summer box office is 2% less than last year's. Universal's THE HULK, meanwhile, plunged nearly 70% in its second weekend, adding $18.8M, still good enough for second place. The ILM VFX feast has earned $100.5M thus far.

After THE MATRIX RELOADED: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE climbed to an unprecedented $903, 241 in North America in its third weekend, IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. are continuing to discuss other possibilities for DMR conversion, including a day-and-date release of THE POLAR EXPRESS on Nov. 19, 2004, according to a recent Dow Jones Business News story.