Following on from the previous announcement, Activision and Chrysler have announced the winners of the The Movies: Virtual Film Competition. The first place was awarded to George Lippert of Kirkwood, MO by N3mbers series actor David Krumholtz for his virtual film “Bullets are Forever Starring Marshall Paris.” Lippert has won himself the keys to a brand new Chrysler Crossfire sports car.

They also announced the semi-finalists who, along with Lippert, could see their films made into live action shorts by independent filmmakers participating in the Chrysler Film Project. The CFP is a competition where filmmakers compete to win a full-length feature production deal on behalf of the Chrysler brand.

The top ten winning virtual films in the competition were: “The Car Whisperer,” by Jonathan Cozzolino of Knoxville, TN; “Double O by Night,” by Stephen Traylor of Parker, CO; “The Loaner,” by James King from Gloucester, VA; “The Magical Car,” by Steve Scott of Plano, TX; “Road Trip to Roswell,” by Kristine Browne of Kennesaw, GA; “To Save the Day,” by Chris Frey of Brooklyn, NY; “What Happened,” by Jonathan Face of New York, NY; “The Winner,” by Anthony Avvento of Celebration, FL; and “The Working Girl,” by Patrick Williams of Houston, TX.

Activision, in partnership with Chrysler, has announced that they have signed on major entertainment industry icons as judges for the Chrysler in the Movies: Virtual Film Competition.

Paul W. S. Anderson (”Resident Evil”), David Krumholtz (”Numb3rs”), Garry Marshall (”Raising Helen,” “The Princess Diaries”), Guy Ritchie (”Revolver,” “Snatch,” “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”), and Brad Silberling (”Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “City of Angels”) have all been signed on to be judges; they will be reviewing and awarding the best of the best shorts created using The Movies game.

To be eligible to win, films must be two to four minutes in length and include any of the current Chrysler vehicles integrated into the game. The winner will be announced at the Activision booth at E3. Five of the best virtual films will be made into live-action shorts by independent filmmakers who Chrysler will be sponsoring.

The films can be viewed online, with visitors getting the chance to vote for their favorite films and win Chrysler and Activision merchandise and prizes.

Activision and Lionhead have officially announced Stunts & Effects, an upcoming add-on for The Movies which was revealed some time ago. Scheduled for release this Spring, the add-on will add stuntmen to the lot, enhance the movie-making toolset, add a diverse selection of dangerous stunts, new visual effects, new sets and new techniques and technologies which can be unlocked.

The Movies: Stunts & Effects allows players to hone their movie making skills with features that can turn an ordinary script into an extraordinary blockbuster. In addition to stunts and effects, the game introduces new backdrops, costumes and props, as well as upgrades to the Advanced Movie Making mode that lets players take control of even more movie features. Players are further immersed into the Hollywood lifestyle as they train and manage stuntmen, as well as compete for industry awards and achievements by uploading their movies to www.themoviesgame.com for the entire world to see.

No pricing or exact release date was provided.

Next-Gen has confirmed that Lionhead has indeed scaled itself down, cutting off 50 “redundancies,” meaning that around 200 people now work at the studio, 180 of whom are developers.

According to the report, Black & White 2 and The Movies have had substandard sales and that the company has “overstretched” itself with three projects being worked on at the same time. Peter Molyneux, the studio’s head, has decided to focus on two games at a time - one of the titles has been in development for a year and the other is just ramping up.

Citing PC Gamer US as a source, CVG reports that a “Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack” for The Movies is in the works. As the name implies, the expansion will add new effects and stunts, along with new sets and a greenscreen option. The report also discloses that Lionhead plans on upgrading the advanced movie-making mode, allowing for “longer productions and new plot-construction stages,” although no exact details were provided.

As expected, the add-on doesn’t have any release date.