After years of steady industry growth, Calgary could finally see ground broken for its first purpose-built film studio as early as spring 2007.

Christal Films says it is seeing great returns after its Quebec release of Les Boys 4 on DVD, with the title debuting at number four on the Nielsen VideoScan chart for the week ending June 11.

CTV premiered its nighttime soap Whistler on June 25, drawing a respectable 550,000 viewers, and winning its Sunday 10 p.m. timeslot, though by the following week its BBM numbers had slipped to 371,000.

Calgary: Academy Award winner Kim Basinger wrapped the MOW The Mermaid Chair June 7 after four weeks of shooting in Calgary for local prodco Nomadic Pictures (Broken Trail), U.S.-based Randwell Distribution, Lifetime Television and Corus Entertainment.

Vancouver: Locals Insight Film Studios and Shavick Entertainment and U.S.-based production partners Ambitious Entertainment and The Regent Group wrapped the MOW Silent Partner on July 5 at Insight’s Maple Ridge Studios. The film – about a policewoman’s desperate and oftentimes illegal efforts to keep her son ­- was directed by Ron Oliver (Young Blades), written by Michael Gleason (Zoe Busiek: Wild Card), and executive produced by James Shavick (Deck the Halls), Insight’s Kirk Shaw (When a Man Falls in the Forest), Regent’s Jeff Schenck (His and Her Christmas) and Ambitious’ Stan Kamens (Secret Lives) for Lifetime Television, SUN TV and Corus Entertainment. It stars Joanna Going (Wyatt Earp), Tim Conlan (Mad TV) and Nelson Wong.

Nova Scotia continues to lead the Atlantic provinces in annual production volume, noting a $16-million increase in 2005, but infrastructure change is afoot in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador to better attract the attention of service shoots and bolster local work.

Even though the formation of the publicly traded DHX Media marks a new corporate direction for both participating companies, it otherwise remains business as usual at The Halifax Film Company and Toronto’s Decode Entertainment.

Barbara Williams had a new strategy at the L.A. screenings this year – to focus on new shows from U.S. nets that are positioned around returning hits already held by Global Television. The result is the network’s impressive 2006/07 lineup, unveiled at its peppy, interactive upfront presentation earlier this month in Toronto.

Wolfe Releasing of San Jose, CA is preparing to distribute a director’s cut of 3 Needles to homes and theaters in the U.S.

The results of the Stanley Cup finals were bad news for most Canadians, except for those who work at CBC and rely on its ratings to fuel their paycheques.

Vancouver – The first family of Marvel is returning to Vancouver, as Fantastic Four 2 begins shooting in August for Twentieth Century Fox, under director Tim Story, who also helmed the first installment. Most of the key players are said to be returning, including producers Bernd Eichinger (Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Ralph Winter (Lost), Marvel Comics CEO Avi Arad and screenwriter Mark Frost (Twin Peaks). Ioan Gruffudd (King Arthur), Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Chris Evans (Cellular) and Jessica Alba (Sin City) will all return as well. Details about the plot are still sketchy, but Internet rumors swirl about the possibility of an appearance by comic icon Silver Surfer.

Vancouver – U.S. prodcos Industry Entertainment and IDT Entertainment are shooting the first season of Masters of Science Fiction for ABC in Vancouver. The anthology series is a spinoff of the similar Masters of Horror series currently shooting its second season nearby for Showtime.