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.

Ascent Media is launching a new set of services that allow advertising agencies to work with the world's best post-production talent-without leaving their hometown. UP Sessions enables Ascent Media clients to participate in telecine sessions, and other picture critical finishing work, from remote sites in realtime while interacting with the artists performing the work. UP Sessions encompasses three different products that facilitate virtual collaboration: UP Satellite, UP Fiber and UP Web.

RTzen announced the arrival of RT/shader, a visual shader, editing tool for production artists, technical artists and programmers. RTZen believes it represents the next milestone in realtime hardware shader development, since artists return to the role of primary author of shaders for realtime applications. RT/shader, which will officially launch at GDC for $1,995, uses a patent-pending technology to automatically create high-level shader language code while the user assembles the shader from standard visual components such as texture, reflection and brightness.

German firm Boll KG, lead by producer/director Uwe Boll, has picked up the rights to bring another game, FAR CRY, to the big screen, reported HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The company adapted HOUSE OF THE DEAD in 2003 and is in post-production on ALONE IN THE DARK with BLOODRAYNE and HUNTER: THE RECKONING in development for 2005. FAR CRY is a first person shooter game from Germany's Crytek. The picture is budgeted at $25 million and should start filming next year in a tropical setting. Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer, who adapted ALONE, will write the script.

Ex'pression College for Digital Arts' students from its 3D animation and visual effects program created a film short to be honoring George Lucas for his Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards on February 18, 2004 in Hollywood.

Universal will be releasing DR. SEUSS' THE CAT IN THE HAT, based on the classic children's book, on DVD and VHS March 16, 2004. The pricing for the release is $26.98 SRP/$19.95 MAP for DVD and $24.98 SRP/$15.95 MAP for VHS. The film was directed by MEN IN BLACK production designer Bo Welch and produced by THE GRINCH producer Brian Grazer.

Interactive DVD exclusives include:

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING took home four honors, including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture, at the second annual VES Awards held last night at a black-tie gala at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award to filmmaker George Lucas by Academy Award-winning director James Cameron. SMALLVILLE had two big wins as did PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL and THE MATRIX RELOADED.

With the future of the DAREDEVIL franchise in the dark, Fox and Regency Enterprises are moving ahead with the production of ELEKTRA with negotiations beginning with director Rob Bowman, reported VARIETY. Jennifer Garner has already signed on to reprise her role as the Greek assassin. DAREDEVIL helmer Mark Steven Johnson along with his Horseshoe Bay partner Gary Foster will be producing the film. Marvel's patron saint of production Avi Arad will also be producing. Bowman previously directed the feature X-FILES film and REIGN OF FIRE.