Category: Visual Effects

Noah Wyle is set to return as the brilliant adventure-seeking Flynn Carsen in Electric Entertainment's third installment of TNT's hugely successful Librarian franchise with THE LIBRARIAN: THE CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE.

Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin will also reprise their roles, with Bruce Davison (X-Men, KNIGHT RIDER) and Stana Katic (FEAST OF LOVE) joining the cast.

Jonathan Frakes (STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION), who directed the second LIBRARIAN installment, THE LIBRARIAN: RETURN TO KING SOLOMON'S MINES, will once again take the helm.

Director Mike Newell will shoot action-adventure flick PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME in Morocco, VARIETY reports.

The video-game based film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney from a script by THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff and game creator Jordan Mechner.

Disney hopes to create a new franchise a la PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN from the video game's six installments and numerous spin-offs.

Digital-Tutors today announced the availability of INTRODUCTION TO RIGGING IN XSI' -- the 21st release in a growing library of interactive educational training for aspiring artists using SOFTIMAGE|XSI, a complete 3D package for modeling, rendering, and character animation.

Digital-Tutors is a SOFTIMAGE official training partner and leader in video-based training for emerging digital artists.

Digitmation will be slashing the prices of The Archive, the newest version of its 3D model library by thousands of dollars, they announced this week.

The Platinum Edition, (10,000 3D models) was priced at $24,995 and will sell for $2,995 starting May 1.

The Titanium Edition, (16,500 3D models) was priced at $49,995 and will sell for $4,995.

Artbeats, the industry's leading creative footage resource, today announced it will debut a wide range of exclusive royalty-free collections and solo clips during the 2008 National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB).

New titles scheduled for release at NAB include: ULTRA WATER 2 and ULTRA NATURE, which feature 1000fps (frames per second) slow-motion footage shot with the Phantom HD, the first use of that camera for stock footage.

Golden Square Post has completed post work on two new MasterCard spots.

MASTERCARD STUDIOUS PUPIL: The idea behind this quirky commercial for McCann Erickson New York was to promote a unique competition for MasterCard customers.

Working with a script about a man with an overactive eye, director Christian Bevilacqua developed his treatment with inspiration from the photographs of Andreas Gursky.

SPEED RACER will be simultaneously released to IMAX and conventional theatres on May 9, IMAX and Warner Bros. announced Tuesday.

SPEED RACER, based on the hit anime series created by Tatsuo Yoshida, is written and directed by MATRIX creators the Wachowskis.

The film will be digitally re-mastered using IMAX's digital re-mastering technology.

Warners will be the exclusive distributor of the film to IMAX theatres worldwide.

NBC has ordered up thirteen episodes of horror anthology series FEAR ITSELF, to air this summer, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reports.

The Lionsgate-produced series will be directed by the likes of John Landis (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON"), Ronny Yu (FREDDY VS. JASON) and Darren Bousman (the SAW series).

Brandon Routh, Elisabeth Moss, Shiri Appleby and Eric Roberts are among the actors signed on to the project.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Ellen Page dropped out of Sam Raimi's thriller DRAG ME TO HELL, VARIETY reports.

"We were racing to start production so that we could accommodate Ellen's schedule,â Ghost House and Mandate said in a joint statement. "But like so many other productions trying to start before the potential SAG strike date, this one needed more time, and we had to push back the start of production."

Page will star in Mandate's psychological thriller PEACOCK and then Drew Barrymore's WHIP IT.

Tim Kolb, an Emmy, Chicago Film Festival Hugo, and Telly Award-winning director and a 20 year veteran of video and television post production has joined Digieffects as the Chief Product Officer.

In this capacity, Kolb will lead the company's product marketing and management efforts.

Kolb has experience with a wide range of creative initiatives ranging from interactive projects as early as 1986 to broadcast news production and working with HD and 2K RAW acquisition/post production and compositing.

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading stand-alone provider of commercial and residential LCD, plasma, and projector displays, announced Monday the NP3151W, a 4000-lumen, high-brightness LCD projector for installation in boardrooms, training rooms, lecture halls and meeting rooms.

The projector's 1280 x 800 WXGA resolution supports users with widescreen notebook computers because the entire 16:10 image is natively displayed.

VARIETY reports the grand unveiling of INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL will be at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18.

Paramount declined to comment, but VARIETY says insiders are confident the Cannes officials will select INDIANA for their lineup once they see the final print. Cannes will announce their schedule in April.

Director Steven Spielberg is editing and scoring the film and has not shown it to anyone, but the cast has been told to pack for the French Riviera.