BARBERSHOP director Tim Story has signed on to direct 20th Century Fox and Marvel's FANTASTIC FOUR, reports LATINO REVIEW. It has been rumored that THE SHIELD star Michael Chiklis is being eye for the Benjamin Grimm/The Thing role and Tim Robbins may play Dr. Doom. George Clooney has long been rumored to be the top choice to play Four leader Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic.

Discreet has begun shipping its smoke 6 system on the Intel-based IBM workstation running Linux. The smoke 6 editing and finishing system is already available on the Silicon Graphics Octane2 and Silicon Graphics Tezro visual workstations. The addition of Linux workstation support and new pricing ensures that the smoke 6 system is accessible to broadcasters and the growing segment of mid-range post-production facilities.

Coinciding with the network broadcast premiere of HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, ABC will be airing a 10-minute sneak peak of HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. The broadcast will take place May 9, 2004 at 7:00 pm.

Universal Studios Hollywood has announced the debut of "Van Helsing: Fortress Dracula," an all-new attraction inspired by Universal Pictures' VAN HELSING opening simultaneously with the film's nationwide debut on May 7, 2004. The attraction will transport guests to a world inhabited by Dracula, The Frankenstein Monster and The Wolf Man. The attraction will feature special effects as well as hundreds of artifacts, original props and set pieces, created for the movie.

After losing their jobs at Discreet in England because of outsourcing, a team of computer gurus who worked on THE LAST SAMURAI, THE MATRIX and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE have auctioned their services off on eBay, Britain’s GUARDIAN reported on Wednesday.

We bid farewell to March and our focus on new frontiers with Tito Belgrave's fascinating look at "Photogrammetry: A Study of Image-Based Modeling." IBM has caused quite a stir with the ability of artists to explore 3D objects and scenes captured from real world photography, and Belgrave breaks it down nicely. Meanwhile, April kicks off our timely emphasis on gaming, what with GDC behind us and E3 just down the road.

Coming in from Wizard World's Los Angeles convention, producer Tom DeSanto revealed to Inland Empire Strikes Back (www.iesb.net) that Oscar-winning FOREST GUMP director Robert Zemeckis will helm THE TRANSFORMERS feature. In addition, the site claims that New Line Cinema will distribute the film and TV series' voice actors Frank Welker and Peter Cullen will reprise their roles. The tentative date for the film's release is Dec. 2006. Until further confirmation can be made this is just hearsay, but both Zemeckis and New Line have been attached to possible participators in the past.

Tokyo-based Robot Communications relied on Discreet’s 3ds max to create the introductory cinematic opening sequence for ONIMUSHA 3: DEMON SIEGE, the final installment in the critically acclaimed game series from Capcom. The game, running on Sony Computer Ent.’s PlayStation 2 platform, has been available in Japan since February 2004, and is expected to be available April 2004 in North America.

LucasArts and IGN/GameSpy have signed a multi-title, multi-platform technology licensing agreement to facilitate online gameplay for titles developed by LucasArts' internal and third-party teams. Titles already scheduled to have technology embedded include: STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT PC, STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT PS2 and STAR WARS: REPUBLIC COMMANDO PC. IGN/GameSpy will supply LucasArts four distinct Software Development Kits (SDKs) toolkits that integrate with the company's games to provide matchmaking, community, administrative and networking functionality.

Oregon3D has purchased a license from Newlands & Co. Inc. for rights to the data that comprises a 3D prototype of the city of Portland, Oregon. Oregon3D plans to use the Portland City model for realtime visual simulation projects, allowing users to fly through the virtual city in realtime.