Reports state the long-in-the-works fourth installment in the INDIANA JONES series is again on hold. VARIETY reports that creator George Lucas was unhappy with SHAWKSHANK REDEMPTION director Frank Darabont's script. The film was scheduled to hit theaters in the summer of 2005, but 2006 looks like the soonest it could arrive on the big screen. Lucas, director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford have wanted to do another film in the series chronicling an aging adventurer, however, the trio has said they wouldn't do it if they all were not thrilled with the same script.

Southern California-based DigiCel Inc. has released FlipBook 4.0 offering greater speed, power, ease-of-use and more affordability. Virtually every aspect of the program has been enhanced.

Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (THE RETURN OF THE KING), who was in Los Angeles over the weekend competing at the 18th annual ASC Awards (John Schwartzman won for SEABISCUIT), told VFXWORLD that he will be reuniting with director Peter Jackson to lense the upcoming KING KONG remake -- and that he's very open to shooting in black and white.

3D Awards entries for the 2nd Annual International 3D Awards will close on midnight, Feb. 29, 2004. Instructions and guidelines for submitting to the 3D Awards can be found at www.3dawards.org.

Online image uploads for the following categories 3D Art (still), Architectural Visualization (still) and Design Visualization/Industrial Design are also available at the 3D Awards Website.

Digital Hero trophies will be awarded in the following categories:
* Feature Film Visual Effects
* Animated Feature Film
* Television Visual Effects

Universal Pictures is in final negotiations with AMERICAN SPLENDOR creative duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini to write and direct a re-envisioning of the horror classic, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Set to produce the project are Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Alphaville's Sean Daniel and James Jacks with Universal's Ally Brecker-Shearmur and Imagine's David Bernardi serving as exec producers. The story would be set in modern New York and center around a college student who over time begins to suspect that she died and was resurrected.

An episode of the fantasy series DINOTOPIA has won a Bronze World Medal in the 'Action/Adventure' category at the International Film & Video Awards, part of the New York festivals. The awards were presented on January 30, 2004 along with the Television Programming and Promotions Awards. Framestore CFC created the digital VFX for the episode.

A list of winners in every category can be found at: http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/main.taf?p=3,1

Producing the Future: A Producer’s Perspective on "What’s Coming Next in Visual Effects?"
Los Angeles, California, USA
February 11, 2004

New Line Cinema have tapped writers Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN) to pen the screen adaptation of DC Comics' SHAZAM!. William Goldman (PRINCESS BRIDE) had been working on the script previously. The film would chronicle the easygoing Billy Batson and his superhero alter ego Captain Marvel. Batson changed by saying the word "shazam," giving the attributes to six Greek gods. The character appeared in DC Comics in the 1970s and originally appeared in the 1940s as a Fawcett Comics title.

Stargate Digital, which recently opened a new facility in London, is currently revamping of all the visual effects for Highlander 2, to be released on DVD this spring through Artisan Home Ent.

Radium recently welcomed five new members to its team: head of production Dennis Hoffman, CG supervisor Kirk Cadrette, Inferno artist Jon Wank, digital effects artist Chris Biggs and CG artist/matte painter Darin Hilton.

ALIAS star Jennifer Garner will present the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Scientific and Technical Awards on Feb. 14, 2004 at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.

Creative collective Psyop recently completed LOTTOLAND, a :30 CG animated spot for the Colorado State Lottery via Karsh & Hagen, Denver. The spot began airing late January 2004.

Psyop collaborated with designer Justin Fines to anthropomorphize lotto balls and give them their own parallel world -- a unique ball town. They experimented with different looks and shadings to create a unique dimensional feel and in the end came up with a fresh style of 3D animation and rendering.

First Alias furthered its continuing strategic partnership with Weta Digital, now the 3D graphics technology powerhouse has formed a stronger alliance with Los Angeles-based motion capture production company House of Moves. Alias will develop and integrate House of Moves' Diva software into future versions of Maya.

Discreet has begun shipping worldwide its non-linear editing and finishing systems, fire 6 and smoke 6. Discreet's editing systems are shaping a new generation of powerful data-centric workflows for digital film, high definition television (HDTV) and standard definition television projects.

eyeon Software Inc. announced the availability of its latest courseware series, Edition 2, an integrated system-based learning experience, exploring the tools within Digital Fusion/DFX+ while outlining features, benefits and varying degrees of application. Edition 2 is a valuable resource for anyone looking to broaden their compositing foundation.

Southpaw Entertainment has announced that it has hired SHREK 2 and SPIRIT director Kelly Asbury to write and direct a live-action/CGI fantasy adventure, titled IMAGINARY CHILDREN, reported VARIETY. Southpaw's Richard Lewis and Scott Peters came up with the concept, which follows a cartoonist whose characters consume his life's so much that he is estranged from his real child. Lewis will finance the project on his own with investments from his Southpaw partner eBay co-founder Jeff Skoll.

Extending its capabilities in feature film post-production, Santa Monica-based Company 3 has hired visual effects editor and artist Rob Doolittle. Doolittle, who previously collaborated with Company 3 on BAD BOYS II, has broad experience in designing and executing VFX for features. Formerly an applications specialist with visual effects hardware manufacturer Quantel, Doolittle also is a leading expert in that company's Generation Q projects used in on-lining for film and high resolution video projects.

Retail sales of U.S. videogames, which includes portable and console hardware, software and accessories, remained largely unchanged over the previous year's record-breaking performance, according to a leading marketing information provider, the NPD Group. The console industry saw sales figures fall 2.7% to $10 billion in 2003, compared to $10.3 billion in 2002.

Viewers around the world watching the animated simulations of the Mars rovers mission are watching the work of a young, lone animator, using LightWave, to make the mission come to life when communications and cameras aren’t cooperating. He is Dan Maas, operating out of his own studio, Mass Digital in Ithaca, New York, far from NASA in Texas, JPL in Pasadena and Mars, where the two rover explorers are now carrying out their missions.

Ron Scalpello of BBC Broadcast has directed a series of trailers (1 x 60 secs, 1 x 40 secs and 3 x 20 secs and 3 x 5 secs) for Abbott Mead Vickers promoting the new BBC One drama HUSTLE. Visual effects and postproduction were carried out at Moving Picture Co. (MPC).

The series concentrates on a group of charismatic confidence tricksters in the business of making money. The trailers themselves introduce the five main characters: Albert, Stacie, Ash and Danny, with each person’s particular traits being described by Mickey, their colleague, during the :60 trailer.