iHollywood Forum is hosting its 3rd Annual Digital Studio Summit in association with the American Film Market (AFM). Animation World Network is sponsoring the event and VFXWorld’s editor Bill Desowitz will be moderating a panel on SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW.

Ubisoft and Universal Studios Consumer Products Group announced plans to release an interactive game based on Universal Pictures’ upcoming KING KONG, directed by Peter Jackson. The game will be available worldwide on all platforms at the beginning of the holiday season in conjunction with the Dec. 14, 2005 theatrical release of the movie.

Aided by its normal mapping feature, one of the most important advancements in 3D game development with crossover application in film and design visualization cinematics, Discreet’s 3ds max 7 begins shipping Oct. 13, 2004.

This major release delivers significant advancements and optimizations to its core features that will greatly enhance the workflow for 3D artists and designers in film, television, games and visualization.

A few years ago, 3D animator Justin Leach shared his experiences in Japan at Production I.G with AWN. That was prior to his involvement on the recently released GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE. Now he returns with excerpts from his personal production diary about working on the acclaimed anime, which VFXWORLD is pleased to bring its readers.

Beginning this November, Dark Horse will publish STAR WARS: OBSESSION, a five-issue limited series comic, which recounts Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi 's brush with the dark side as he embarks on a mission fraught with peril.

Craft Animations releases its first commercial plug-in suite for 3ds max, Craft Camera Tools, which will be publicly presented at the official release of 3ds max 7, Oct. 14, in Stockholm, Sweden. Craft Camera Tools is used by animators in realtime to steer cameras with a joystick or keyboard in the 3ds max viewport. Four types of cameras and two help tools, are available:

One of last summer’s most widely watched and discussed disaster flicks with Oscar Bake-Off contending vfx, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, hits DVD shelves on Oct. 12, 2004, (Fox Home Ent., $29.98).

Pixel Magic recently took on the duty of chasing bank robber supermodels through Grand Central Station and the streets of New York for Fox’s TAXI, culminating in a high-speed car duel on an elevated unfinished highway by performing more than 300 visual effects. They included greenscreen composites, CG cars, CG bridges, CG matte paintings, wire removals and assorted fixes.

Digital Anarchy announced the availability of CHAOS STOCK VOLUME 1, a new concept in royalty-free background design. By including the Adobe After Effects project files along with pre-rendered footage, CHAOS STOCK gives users enormous creativity and flexibility to create a wide variety of custom designed stock backgrounds.

Taking a page out of THE MATRIX and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Columbia TriStar Home Ent. intends to release a SPIDER-MAN 2.5 DVD in 2005 with additional vfx and action scenes, director Sam Raimi told Website IGN.com. He indicated that it was a financial decision and not an artistic one on his part.

Electric Rain Inc. announced the upcoming release of Swift 3D Xpress for Mac OS X. Swift 3D Xpress is a 3D extension accessible directly from within the Macromedia Flash MX 2004 interface. Swift 3D Xpress allows Flash MX 2004 users to select any vector object on the stage in Flash, open it into the Xpress editing interface, customize their 3D scene by extruding, rotating, lighting and animating the vector object, and then render it out to a self-contained Movie Clip in either vector or raster form.

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW director Kerry Conran has selected screenwriter Ehren Kruger (THE RING and THE RING 2) to rewrite A PRINCESS OF MARS, which has been retitled JOHN CARTER OF MARS, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reports.

The Paramout Pictures production, based on the first installment in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 11-book series, concerns a Civil War vet who is mysteriously transported to Mars, where he faces even more fantastic adventures. Alphaville’s Jim Jacks and Sean Daniel are producing. Mark Protosevich turned in the previous draft.

Warner Bros. Pictures has joined DreamWorks on the production of Michael Bay’s THE ISLAND, reports HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The two studios will share the cost of the $100 million film with DreamWorks distributing the film in the U.S. and Warner taking the film internationally. Caspian Tredwell-Owen wrote the original screenplay, with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci turning other drafts. Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Ian Bryce are producing.

SGI workstations running ART VPS' accelerated ray tracing chip sets were demonstrated publicly for the first time at the SGI Technology Forum in Paris. The AR350 chips, configured in sets of eight and 16, are expected to be available in SGI workstations within the next two months.

Wicked RGB has extended its impressive stable of artists with the addition of Ira Shain, Micah Henrie, Pascal Blanché and Raphael Lacoste.

"We are here to push projects to the maximum level of graphical quality -- and we are here to stay," said founder/president Michael Christensen.

Jan De Bont has signed on to direct the big screen adaptation of Steve Alten’s shark thriller MEG, reports VARIETY. HELLBOY producers Guillermo del Toro, Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin will produce along with CHUD.com creator Nick Nunziata and Ken Atchity. The story follows explorer Jonas Taylor who has a terrifying encounter with a 20-pound Carcharodon megalodon, the massive mother of the great white shark.

NewTek Inc. announced the release of VT[4] LIVE!, an integrated production suite that provides a comprehensive toolset for all professional SD video production needs. VT[4] LIVE! offers computer-based live production capabilities, able to handle anything from switching and titling for network broadcast to serverless Web streaming. VT[4] LIVE!

Timothy Albee’s long Alaskan journey resulted in the fascinating short, KAZE, GHOST WARRIOR, which he made totally on his own, largely using LightWave, for $5,000. Alain Bielik chats with Albee about the making of KAZE and plans to turn it into a feature.

Toon Boom Animation announced the release of Symphony. With features such as morphing, basic inverse kinematics and "glue" (automatic joint connecting) that enhance the paperless animation production process, Symphony enables studios to produce high quality digital animation. Advanced drawing and asset management tools combined with a seamless, integrated workflow saves significant overhead costs while adding value to their animations. Symphony also building on the advanced features provided by Opus and Concerto.

20th Century Fox has tapped TROY screenwriter David Benioff to write the X-MEN spinoff, WOLVERINE, reports VARIETY. Fox hopes to have Hugh Jackman reprise his role as the superhero. The assignment will net Benioff seven figures. The writer pitch the idea to 20th Century Fox president Hutch Parker and svp Alex Young, who'll oversee the project.