Moviegoers attending the special engagement of Disney's THE HAUNTED MANSION at Hollywood's historic El Capitan Theatre (Nov. 26, 2003 through Jan. 4, 2004) will have the opportunity to explore a rare behind-the-scenes attraction about the making of the movie. "The Haunted Mansion - Hollywood" features the actual sets, costumes and vfx designed and built by the film's Academy Award-winning team of artists at Sony Imageworks.

The Making of The Matrix Revolutions
Hollywood, California, USA
November 20, 2003

DigitalFilm Tree (DFT), a post and design company specializing in Final Cut Pro (FCP) consultation and implementation, collaborated with Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch to pioneer a Final Cut Pro editing workflow for his work on Anthony Minghella's COLD MOUNTAIN, Miramax's Civil War epic starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman and prime Oscar contender, due in theaters Christmas Day.

The world of integrated effects creation just got faster. Shipping immediately for an upgrade price of $199, Boris FX 7 brings high performance directly into the editing environment with new OpenGL acceleration and faster renders. Editors can now experience advanced keyframe control with more than 20 new filters and paint tools for advanced masking and compositing.

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution has acquired the domestic distribution rights to Walden Media's adventure comedy, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, starring Jackie Chan. The film will be released by Walt Disney Pictures as a summer 2004 tentpole.

Video Symphony, a TV, Film and DVD Digital College and Career Center, has launched another in a series of year-long 3D Animation and Visual Effects course programs.

"Today, nearly every movie, TV show and commercial turns to 3D magic and visual effects for everything from dueling spaceships, fiery explosions, and slime-dripping aliens, to animated breakfast cereal, and cars that drive on water,” said Video Symphony's president Mike Flanagan.

Industrial Light & Magic's art director Alex Laurent will provide the Australian Effects & Animation festival (AEAF: Dec. 7-10, 2003) an exclusive preview of how the upcoming PETER PAN was brought to the big screen. Australian director P. J. Hogan (MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING) is at the helm of the first live-action sound feature based on J. M. Barrie's enduring classic.

Framestore CFC has received the Best Digital Effects prize at this year’s Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards. At the Nov. 17, 2003 event, the company won for its work on the two WALKING WITH DINOSAURS specials THE GIANT CLAW and LAND OF GIANTS. The award was accepted on behalf of Framestore CFC by DINOSAURS team members Tim Greenwood, Darren Byford, George Roper and Sarah Tosh.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment plans to up the D-VHS ante by debuting five new titles this holiday season on JVC's D-VHS format, featuring JVC's D-Theater encryption and introducing for the first time optional DTS digital surround sound at the full bit rate of 1509 kbps. The titles include: X2 (Nov. 25), LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (Dec. 16), MOULIN ROUGE (Nov. 25), SPEED (Dec. 16) and TRUE LIES (Dec. 16).

Nexsan Technologies, a leader in innovative storage solutions, announced that its new ATABeast is now shipping in volume and available worldwide. The ATABeast disk vault sets the bar in high-end, high capacity storage, delivering industry-leading features with unparalleled density and security. ATABeast offers a TCO that also establishes new standards of affordability.