Nexsan Technologies, a leader in innovative storage solutions, announced that its new ATABeast is now shipping in volume and available worldwide. The ATABeast disk vault sets the bar in high-end, high capacity storage, delivering industry-leading features with unparalleled density and security. ATABeast offers a TCO that also establishes new standards of affordability.

Moneyshots recently completed visual effects on a series of spots for Reebok featuring the NFL Summit Heavyweight Jacket and Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback Donavan McNabb. Directed by The Odiorne Brothers for Arnell Group, the 30- and 10-second spots were shot in Philadelphia over three days, and utilize a series of scenes connected by the winter breaths of Eagles players and fans.

Giant Killer Robots (GKR), an Oscar-winning vfx boutique in San Francisco, provided pre-visualization, design, effects animation, rendering and final compositing services to create the subterranean metropolis Zion in THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS. GKR also served as a lead coordinating firm for critical action sequences in Zion that required photorealism and precise animation. REVOLUTIONS features vfx with a Japanese anime-like feel that blends fantasy and reality.

Visual effects vet Hael Kobayashi has joined Animal Logic, the Sydney-based visual effects house as digital artists manager to oversee recruiting, training and career development of the studio’s expanding ranks of digital artists.

At the 2003 Virtuality Conference, Franz Cerami announced the new Miss Digital World, a beauty contest for digitally created women. The contest’s Website (www.missdigitalworld.com) has now officially launched. The idea for the event is to “search for a contemporary ideal of beauty, represented through virtual reality.”

On the heels of Ridley Scott's new director's cut of ALIEN comes ALIEN QUADRILOGY, the ultimate box set of the sci-fi franchise and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's (TCFHE) most ambitious DVD project yet. Due Dec. 2, 2003 and priced at $99.98, QUADRILOGY contains four films, nine discs and 45 hours of bonus materials. Plus new vfx in ALIEN and ALIEN3 supplied by TCFHE and five houses (Svengali, R!OT, Encore, Frantic and Modern Video). There are 15 new CG shots in ALIEN, including CG blood, CG fire, wire removal and star fields.

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS made its worldwide debut on Nov. 5, 2003, taking in $43.1 million from 18,000 screens. The final installment in the cyber saga brought in $24.3 million in the U.S. and Canada where it played in 3,502 theaters. This amount makes it the third biggest Wednesday bow of all time in North America behind only STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE ($28.5M) and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS ($26.2M).

Visual effects producer Leighton Greer has joined the staff of Entity FX in Santa Monica, California. Previously she was visual effects producer at A52 where she produced spots for Nike, BMW, Nissan, Toyota, Cadillac, Volvo and Sony PlayStation. Prior to A52, Greer worked at Rhythm & Hues, Pinnacle Studios and Pacific Ocean Post.

Greer recently produced the award-winning Nike MOVE, directed by Jake Scott of RSA and Sony PlayStation’s SIGNS, directed by Dante Ariola of MJZ.

DreamWorks has tapped commercial director Noam Murro to direct the sequel to the $129 million surprise hit, THE RING, reported VARIETY. The original film’s star Naomi Watts has already signed on to reprise her role. The film should start filming in January and is scheduled to hit theaters Nov. 10, 2004.

HP announced the new HP Visualization Center sv7, an affordable, high-end visualization solution designed for companies, such as large automotive and aerospace firms who need to visualize designs on auditorium-scale displays. The center will allow executive committees and engineering teams to review full-scale design concepts and digital assemblies that allow users to model and walk through the manufacturing process.

The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will allocate $250,000 to 17 U. S. film festivals for calendar year 2004 programming, according to the Academy's festival grants committee chair, Buffy Shutt.

The Chicago International Children's Film Festival and the Miami International Film Festival will each receive $30,000 grants.

Alias Systems announced the start of “Expose Yourself,” the upcoming contest for digital artists who use Alias SketchBook Pro, the sketching tool for Tablet PCs and Wacom tablets. From Nov. 17, 2003 until Feb. 13, 2004, artists, illustrators and designers can submit their sketches at www.sketchbookpro.com/contest. The contest is sponsored by Microsoft, Acer, Wacom, PC Mall and Intel.

The British Television Advertising Awards were announced on Nov. 3, 2003 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. The event attracted more than 400 entries for its 21 categories.

3 Ring Circus, a full-service creative branding firm based in Los Angeles, has a new creative team on board, which has just finished a string of projects. Maziar Majd leads the team as creative director.

The simultaneous release of Warner Bros.' THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS on Nov. 5, 2003 in 35mm and IMAX/15/70 represents a first for a live-action Hollywood film and the prestigious large format corporation, which is attempting to increase both its commercial appeal and profitability as a result of its aggressive repurposing strategy.

Cutting Edge VFX of Australia (www.cuttingedge.com) recently completed the animated opening and closing credits for Disney's just-released DVD premiere GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE 2 (Walt Disney Home Entertainment, $29.99).

Right upon the heals of MGM’s announcement that it has enlisted Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes to remake THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, Dimension Films plans to produce a film based on the life of George Lutz, who lived in the real Long Island haunted house, which the 1979 film was based on, reported VARIETY. Dimension obtained Lutz’s life rights and a finished script from Nu Image. The film is scheduled to hit theaters early next summer.

Elevating its position as a leading 3D animation company, Hornet Inc. recently completed ANGELS, an advertising campaign for the new BMW X5 and Fallon Worldwide. The package includes TV, print, interactive, merchandising and point-of-sale elements for BMW.

Gregory Butler from Weta, a CG supervisor on THE LORD OF THE RINGS films, has been added as a morning keynote speaker to The Pipeline 2003, the U.K. event devoted to digital artists and animators, sponsored by Techimage, to be held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on Nov. 20, 2003.

Cinesite (Europe) Ltd. will be in Los Angeles to recruit artists on Nov. 6-7, 2003 for some of its upcoming vfx projects. Recruiters will be based at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, and interested applicants are invited to meet with them to discuss professional opportunities in London. Please email jobs@cinesite.co.uk with resumes. Cinesite will also be holding open recruitment on Nov. 6 at 6:00 pm.