Kodak has released two new film stocks that incorporate the company’s advanced VISION2 color negative film technology, adding 100- and 200-speed, ultra-fine grain color negative films to the product line.

Robert Rodriguez (SPY KIDS franchise, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO) has signed on to direct the screen adaptation of Frank Miller's classic crime saga, SIN CITY. The feature will be based on the three graphic novels SIN CITY, THAT YELLOW BASTARD and THE BIG FAT KILL. Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan will produce the project through their Troublemaker Studios. Andrew Rona and Brad Weston, co-presidents of Dimension, will oversee the project for the studio.

Steven B. Cohen, a pioneer in digital technologies used to edit and screen feature films, has joined Ascent Media Creative Services in the newly created post of vp of feature film services. In his new role, Cohen will develop leading edge digital services for use in film production; including digital dailies, location and studio screening rooms, digital cinema previews and the digital intermediate process.

Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST exceeded all projections, grabbing a whopping $26,556,573 on Wednesday, nailing the biggest opening day gross for a movie released outside of summer and holiday seasons, even subtracting the $3M from private church group screenings on Monday and Tuesday that were lumped in by indie distributor Newmarket.

As February comes to a close, so does the awards season, with the Academy Awards taking place on Sunday, the 29th, thanks to leap year. Will it be the momentous coronation of RETURN OF THE KING, the final breathtaking installment of Peter Jackson's ambitious LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy? That's the prognosis.

Every studio is looking for its own HARRY POTTER series and New Line is putting its hopes in German children's fantasy tale, INKHEART. VARIETY reported that after a lengthy negotiation process, New Line has obtained the rights to develop author Cornelia Funke's book into a feature franchise. This deal will extend to any future books in what is planned to be a trilogy.

Daybreak Prods' Chuck Gordon and Prime Universe Prods' Adrian Askarieh have gained the feature rights to Jason Henderson comicbook series SWORD OF DRACULA from Image Comics, reported Icv2.com. Gordon's credits include the DIE HARD movies and Askarieh is producing of the forthcoming SPY HUNTER, based on the classic computer game. No director, writer or cast has been announced for the project yet.

Screen Gems and Lakeshore Ent. have announced they will start production on UNDERWORLD 2 in fall 2004, reported VARIETY. Stars Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman are expected to return as the vampire and werewolf in love. Director Len Wiseman will return with original scriptwriter Danny McBride, scheduled to turn in a screenplay by April. Wiseman and McBride sold the original spec script to Screen Gems, which was given a budget of $24 million and went on to gross $51 million in the U.S.

Not content with his theatrical 3D experiment, Robert Rodriguez has fine-tuned SPY KIDS 3-D - GAME OVER for DVD (Walt Disney Home Video, $29.99), which streets on Feb. 24, 2004, making it even more dynamic in the home theater. Thanks to James Cameron's revolutionary 3D camera that he developed for GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS and his upcoming feature, Rodriguez was able to utilize more 3D effects than he originally intended.

Project Dogwaffle, the award-winning paint software program, which recently launched v.2, has now announced a 2.0b patch with more speed, mouse caching, new plug-ins and bug fixes. The patch requires Dogwaffle 2.0 already installed on your PC and checks for its validity.

It is a free patch. The size is about 1.25 MB.

Go to www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/freebies/2dot0b.html for downloading instructions.