Vancouver – L.A. prodco New Regency Pictures (Date Movie) is currently in production on its new holiday-themed feature Deck the Halls, aka All Lit Up, in Vancouver. The Fox feature – starring Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick as neighbors at odds over some garish Christmas decorating – began shooting at the end of May, with John Whitesell (Big Momma’s House 2) directing the Don Rhymer (The Honeymooners) script. Michael Costigan (Brokeback Mountain) is producing with exec Jeremiah Samuels of New Regency. The film will wrap in late July and should be ready for release this holiday season.

Vancouver – Director Uwe Boll is fed up with having his films slammed by critics and has issued an open challenge for five of his most vocal critics to fight him over the last two days of the Brightlight Pictures production of Postal, which will begin shooting in September in Vancouver, according to Boll spokesperson Bill Wanstrom.

Summer is here and the time is right for a big screen full of superheroes, tidal waves, deadly serpents and chatty felines. Of course, these things couldn’t sweep viewers away as they do without expertly crafted VFX. And to achieve these, several of the summer’s most anticipated productions turned to Canadian post facilities, as was the case with the titles included on these two pages.

CTV says it will continue its ratings dominance with proven hits and a few hot pickups, while Global is promising growth with heavy drama after the first round of network upfronts early this month in Toronto.

Loren Mawhinney has joined Barna-Alper Productions as VP, factual entertainment, as the Toronto prodco looks to expand its slate of reality and how-to programming.

Blockbuster Video has added eight Canadian features to its growing Festival Collection series, and will ship Eve and the Fire Horse, The Cabin Movie, Niagara Motel, Mouth to Mouth, The End of Silence, Lucid, Things to Do and Paper Moon Affair to all of its 444 stores across Canada for June 13.

CHUM Television’s mission at the L.A. screenings was to come back with more simulcast programming from ‘the big four’ U.S. nets for its Citytv stations this fall. Mission accomplished, says Ellen Baine, VP, programming.

Demonstrating there is still a market for TV movies in Canada after all, CTV aired its original MOW Eight Days to Live on May 28 at 9 p.m. to two million viewers.

Calgary: Producer Heather Haldane sounds exhausted on the phone from Calgary after spending most of last month high in the Rocky Mountains making the 2 x 120 CBC miniseries Everest ’82, a copro between her Toronto-based Screen Door and Calgary’s Alberta Filmworks.

Mongrel Media’s ScaredSacred and Seville Pictures’ Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey – both well-reviewed Canadian documentaries from the festival circuit – were released on DVD May 23.

Sweeps has brought its wave of season finales, with both Global and CTV seeing strong ratings with their U.S. series as they wrap for the year, and Survivor is still the finale to beat in Canada after the first three weeks of May.