Joe Hartwick, Twentieth Century Fox's president of physical production, has been upped to oversee a new vfx department at the studio, given the high volume of effects-laden event films and the need to shift priorities and streamline costs. Hartwick will not only coordinate the visual effects needs of all Fox films, but also serve as liaison for the effects houses collaborating with them.

Darren Aronfosky is being named as the director of WATCHMEN, reports AIN'T IT COOL NEWS. The site says that Aronfosky will tackle the classic graphic novel after he finishes THE FOUNTAIN. David Hayter (X-MEN, X2: X-MEN UNITED) has written the screenplay for the film.

Caught in the tight web of SPIDER-MAN 2, which has been pushed up to June 30, 2004, Paramount Pictures has decided to postpone the release of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW from June 25 to Sept. 17, which gives the experimental CG adventure more time to find its audience, according to the studio.

David Hayter (X-MEN, X2: X-MEN UNITED) has been hired to rewrite IRON MAN for New Line Cinema, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (TV's SMALLVILLE) wrote the previous draft. The Marvel comic told the story of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, who creates an armored suit allowing him to fly and shoot repulsor rays. The comic began in the 1960s and brought Iron Man up against the Viet Cong, however the film will take place in a modern setting.

Newmarket Films has announced that it will be releasing in theaters a new director's cut of sci-fi cult favorite DONNIE DARKO, reports VARIETY. The new version will include 21 minutes of footage not in the original release and beefed up visual effects. The new cut will debut May 29 at the Seattle Film Festival then roll out in theaters slowly starting in July. The original theatrical release in 2001 only grossed $517,375, but the film has found a cult following on DVD, grossing $10 million.

The Orphanage, whose recent vfx efforts include HELLBOY and the upcoming THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, will release a key piece of its visual effects technology to the public. Called eLin, the software consists of a suite of plug-ins and scripts for Adobe After Effects 6.5 that allow compositors to work in the expanded photographic color space of film. eLin will be free of charge for non-commercial use.

Adobe Systems Inc. has announced new versions of its audio editing, mixing, and mastering software Audition and its video editing software Premiere Pro. Audition and Premiere Pro are core components of the Adobe Video Collection 2.5, which also includes After Effects 6.5 and Adobe Encore DVD 1.5.

MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD arrives from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on April 20, 2004 in its DVD and rental VHS debut. Garnering 10 Academy Award nominations, and taking home the Oscar for both Best Achievement in Cinematography and Best Achievement in Sound Editing, the $90 million box office hit journeys to DVD in a beautifully packaged double-disc Collector’s Giftpack.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) and The Jim Henson Co. have signed a two-year first-look deal to produce live-action feature films. The Henson-MGM deal came together after a successful relationship working together on the hit family comedy GOOD BOY!, a live-action film produced by Jim Henson Pictures, which one of the most profitable releases for MGM in 2003.

Alias, a Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) company, has brought out the next version of its award-winning 3D animation and special effects software Maya 6, featuring hundreds of new features and enhancements requested by Maya users from both large and small organizations working in film, broadcast, game development, digital publishing and visualization markets. These developments can be seen at NAB in Alias suite #S111 at the Las Vegas Convention Center where Maya artists will conduct demos hourly.

Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc., has released SOFTIMAGE|XSI4.0 - the latest version of the industry's leading nonlinear 3D production environment and has made it available in three distinct configurations at breakthrough prices: XSI Advanced, XSI Essentials, and the new entry-level XSI Foundation. Version 4.0 delivers advanced toolsets, dramatic performance enhancements, and advancements to the core architecture of the software, including new customization, project management and workgroup capabilities.

Apple’s new Shake 3.5, features new shape-based morphing and warping tools for advanced compositing and new “shape shifting” special effects, fine-tuned to take advantage of the performance and architecture of the Power Mac G5 and Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther.”

In conjunction with NAB, NVIDIA has announced the release of Gelato, the first 3D final-film renderer accelerated by industry-standard graphics hardware; the Quadro FX 4000, a professional graphics solution; and Quadro FX 4000 SDI, a workstation-based graphics solution enabling weather, news, sports and virtual-set broadcast as well as video and film post-production.

John Malkovich has been added to the cast of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, Disney's adaptation of the Douglas Adams novel, reported THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Malkovich is set to play religious cult leader Humma Kavula, a character created by Adams exclusively for the long-in-the-making film production. The film is set to start shooting this month in London, with former commercials director Garth Jennings helming.

Artbeats, an industry leader in royalty-free stock footage for film, video and multimedia professionals, today announced it would release its new Ultra collections at the 2004 National Assn. of Broadcasters Convention (NAB). Featuring captivating slow motion imagery, Artbeats' Ultra collections offer an entirely new perspective to fire, water and motion, and provide some of the most unique royalty-free footage available at this year's NAB.

NAB 2004 has joined forces with the Entertainment Technology Center at USC to present a next generation Digital Cinema Summit on April 18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, highlighted by a case study of the digital tools used on the upcoming VAN HELSING.

The schedule is as follows:

WHAT DO CINEMATOGRAPHERS NEED? (9:30 am - 10:00 am)

Discreet has announced accelerating momentum amongst broadcasters and post-production facilities around the world purchasing Discreet systems to deliver on their standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) requirements. From Madrid to Mumbai, and New York to Los Angeles, broadcasters are relying on Discreet's systems to create sophisticated programming, including graphics, promos, commercials and episodics.

Visual Circuits will unveil the first multi-channel, high definition video player, Mantis MC, at NAB 2004 in the Focus Enhancements booth, SL3501. Designed around Visual Circuits' Gemini 2 Universal Media Card, Mantis MC integrates 32-bit accelerated graphics with high definition (HD) video, and scrolling text; supporting Multi-Zone playback and offering extreme flexibility in digital media file integration on one or two display channels.

The Orphanage has been tapped to finish more than 45 vfx shot on Fox's THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW before it hits theaters May 28, 2004. Orphanage visual effects supervisor Remo Balcells and visual effects producer Jody Echegaray will oversee a team of 60 effects wizards, creating digital environments, character animation and particle simulations. Marc Sadeghi will serve as exec producer for Orphanage. Digital Domain and ILM are the chief fx shops on the film.

In a story that will never die, Morgan Creek has announced that it will release both the Paul Schrader and Renny Harlin versions of its EXORCIST prequel on DVD, reported VARIETY. Schrader was the original director on the project, but his version was not the fright fest Morgan Creek was looking for. The production house then hired Renny Harlin to punch up the film, which led to an almost entire re-shoot of the film with a revamped screenplay.