Boeing sends out last 717
There were tears, goodbye waves and a lot of people with proud faces walking down Lakewood Boulevard early Thursday morning, the Long Beach Press Telegram reports. It was the last time a Boeing 717 passenger plane, or any commercial airplane for that matter, would ever again be towed across Lakewood Boulevard from its production factory to Long Beach Airport for flight testing. The final plane will be delivered May 23 to AirTran Airways in a special ceremony
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WB reels in digital deal
Warner Bros. has signed onto Christie/AIX’s digital cinema rollout plan, leaving Paramount as the only major not yet aligned with the effort, Variety reports. Numerous sources have indicated that Par will join soon as well, possibly in time for next month’s “Mission: Impossible III.” In both cases, studios agree to provide most or all of their movies for screening on digital cinema systems the companies are deploying. Studios pay a “virtual print fee” for the film that’s about equal to making and distribution a film print.
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Hollywood seeks box office rebound
With the return of such bulletproof franchises as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “X-Men” and “Mission Impossible,” the movie industry appears poised to rebound this year from 2005’s dismal summer of moviegoer discontent, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. Things will kick off next Friday with “Mission Impossible III,” starring Tom Cruise, the industry’s most reliable box-office performer, especially in an action film. The official summer movie season, which runs from the first weekend of May through Labor Day weekend, accounts for approximately 40 percent of a year’s box office receipts. Last year’s tally of $3.958 billion was an 8.5 percent drop in revenue from a record-setting 2004 and attendance was down an alarming 11 percent.
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Electronic design automation firm moves to Monrovia
Tanner Research Inc. celebrated its new home Wednesday, and Monrovia celebrated the latest high-tech firm to move to town, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports. Founded in 1988, Tanner specializes in electronic design automation, integrated circuit design and micro-electro-mechanical systems design and fabrication. Other companies use Tanner software to design microchips. The imaging chips on the two NASA rovers on Mars were designed using Tanner software.
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CBS Radio Is in Talks With Shock Jocks
It may take two shock jocks to hold Howard Stern’s microphone at CBS Radio, The Los Angeles Times reports. Two years after firing Greg “Opie” Hughes and Anthony Cumia for broadcasting an alleged sexual encounter as it was taking place in New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, CBS Radio is in talks to bring them back. David Lee Roth, the former Van Halen frontman who replaced Stern four months ago, has clashed openly with his bosses, fighting over his show’s format and engaging in angry, on-air rants. Sources say disappointed CBS executives are close to finalizing a deal to replace Roth by syndicating the “Opie & Anthony” show that is now aired on XM satellite radio.
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