The Orphanage has announced that it will produce a film adaptation of Bill Sienkiewicz's graphic novel, STRAY TOASTERS, reported VARIETY. The pic will be directed by Jeff Renfroe and Marteinn Thorsson, whose ONE POINT O feature competed at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Sienkiewicz, Renfroe and Thorsson have all contributed on the screenplay. Orphanage head of production Amy Israel will produce with R.D. Robb, Renfroe, Thorsson and Sienkiewicz.

Shuffle Inc., an international television commercial production company with offices in Venice, California, and Tokyo, Japan, has launched Shuffle USA as a new operating unit.

With the epic undertaking of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy behind them, Weta Digital is considering renting out several racks of IBM blade servers in partnership with Telecom, reports www.stuff.co.nz. Telecom Advanced Solutions started hosting the hardware last winter after Weta ran out of room in the Miramar facility. The new servers were linked to Weta's main site using a 10 gigabit fibre-optic connection.

SECONDHAND LIONS (New Line Platinum Series, $27.95), the eccentric yet warm-hearted coming of age story starring Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Haley Joel Osment, is noteworthy for being Digital Domain's first in-house feature production (with Erik Nash serving as visual effects supervisor). The effects and digital animation are subtle but effective, as revealed in the supplementary comparisons.

yU + co delves into the dark and disturbing world of serial murder in its wonderfully creepy main title sequence for D. J. Caruso's psychological thriller TAKING LIVES. The Warner Bros. release, about a murderer who assumes the identities of his victims, opened nationwide on March 19, 2004.

Discreet is now shipping lustre 2 worldwide. It is the next version of the company's realtime color grading system for digital media and digital intermediate workflows, and has been used in MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD, X2: X-MEN UNITED and AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER.

Norfolk, Virginia-based Decipher has announced that Weta Workshop will create unique photographic images of characters not depicted in New Line's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy for use in the trading card game based on the epic tale.

Pixologic Inc. has announced the upcoming release of ZBrush 2, the newest version of its award-winning 2D/3D digital-art creation software, on March 31, 2004. Modeling, texturing and painting features have all benefited from code enhancements and new tools and options provide even more versatility in all areas. Medium- to high-resolution models respond instantly to sculpting actions, constantly rendered and shaded in realtime.

Eovia Corp., developer and publisher of leading 3D software, announced the immediate availability of TransPoser. TransPoser is a full-featured plug-in to dynamically import animated Poser 4 and 5 figures into Carrara Studio 3.

Kaydara Inc. announced the release of MOTIONBUILDER 5.5 Professional, the latest version of the company's popular realtime 3D character animation software. With added support for Python scripting and CgFX shaders, MOTIONBUILDER 5.5 Professional allows 3D animators to create complex character set-ups and animation sequences in minutes instead of the days and weeks required by other systems.

Flame artist Toni DiMauro has joined Click 3x. DiMauro is skilled in compositing, beauty work and design with diverse credits in commercial and broadcast media. She joins Click 3x from the freelance ranks and has recently worked with the studio in that capacity on projects for Road Runner High Speed Online and ESPN.

Softimage Co. announced that Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios, creators of three upcoming console titles, FULL SPECTRUM WARRIOR, MERCENARIES and STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT, is standardizing its entire 3D pipeline with SOFTIMAGE|XSI, the leading nonlinear 3D production environment. The three phase transition, which will take place over the next six months and also includes the purchase of multiple licenses of SOFTIMAGE|XSI software, will replace all competitive 3D tools currently used at Pandemic Studios.

In what will be the first outing for the Muppets as members of the Disney family, ABC has given the greenlight on a Muppet version of THE WIZARD OF OZ, reports VARIETY. The long in the works project will be produced by Jim Henson Prods. and Fox TV Studios. Debra Frank (HOME ALONE 4) and Steven Hayes (HEY, ARNOLD) will be penning the screenplay, which will be based on L. Frank Baum's novel, not the 1939 MGM musical. The Muppet characters are set to star as the Scarecrow, Tinman and Cowardly Lion with a human playing Dorothy. Internet rumors have attached Natalie Portman as the possible lead.

cebas Computer GmbH has announced the release of finalShaders for finalRender Stage-1. finalShaders is the first of many upcoming finalRender Stage-1 material and shader plug-in collections. finalShaders works with finalRender Stage-1 Service Pack 2a or higher. Owners of finalRender Stage-1 can upgrade to Service Pack 2a for free by sending your serial number to dcpsupport@turbosquid.com. finalRender Stage-1 is available for 3ds max4.X, 5.X and 6.

The materials found in finalShaders include:

As part of its continuing series, the Gnomon Workshop released three new training DVDs by sculptor John Brown (A BEAUTIFUL MIND, PLANET OF THE APES, SPY KIDS). These titles focus on sculpting, casting and molding the full-size head and character maquette.

It's been a hectic last couple of days, what with the server being down, but we're finally up and running smoothly again, so now you can get caught up on our latest news and features. Lots of tech news with the Game Developers Conference coming up next week in San Jose.

MGM Pictures, a division of MGM Studios Inc., has promoted Bruce Markoe to evp, feature post-production. He will report to Andy Davis, the evp of physical production.

"Bruce has become a vital part of MGM since he joined the company, and has been a great supporter of filmmakers here," said Davis. "This promotion is extremely well deserved."

PGA's DVD and Beyond Panel Discussion
Universal City, California, USA
March 18, 2004

At the Bear Stearns entertainment and media conference in Palm Beach, Florida, Electronic Arts announced it was creating a videogame based on the classic tale, THE GODFATHER, reported VARIETY. The company said the titled would most likely be their first M (mature)-rated game. EA has not released whether the game film be directly based on Francis Ford Coppola's film trilogy or Mario Puzo's original novels.

On March 11, 2004 at 6:00 pm, Tech TV will first air the second annual VES Awards. The broadcast will allow fans and industry folk alike to see all the top winners presented with their trophies. In addition, a highlight of the show will be the awarding of the VES' first lifetime achievement award to George Lucas.

Below is a complete list of scheduled repeat airings of the show (all times pacific):

March 12 at 11:00 am
March 13 at 3:00 pm
March 14 at 8:00 pm