Flint’s favorite transportation choice nears an end

Poster for In Like Flint

Learjet, once the preferred mode of transport for 1960s spy Derek Flint, is nearing the end of its run.

Learjet is ending production this year, Reuters reported. Demand for Lear aircraft has been affected by Embraer SA and Textron Inc’s Cessna, according to the news service.

In the two-film Flint film series, Derek Flint (James Coburn) was a fan of jetting about in a Learjet. In fact, Learjet founder Bill Lear (1902-1978) made a cameo in In Like Flint. The real-life Bill Lear presents Flint with a new model jet. Lear was billed as W.P. Lear Sr. in the end titles.

Bill Lear began the company in 1963 and sold it off in 1967.

The Reuters article provides this background about the impending end of Learjet:

Bombardier, which acquired Learjet in 1990, said last week production would end this year. But it will service the plane, which accounts for about 42% of its in-service fleet of just under 5,000 business aircraft, according to JETNET data.

M:I 7, 8 no longer shooting back-to-back, Deadline says

Tom Cruise hasn’t had such luck combatting COVID-19.

The seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films are no longer filming back-to-back, the Deadline entertainment website reported.

M:I 7 has run into delays stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, M:I star-producer Tom Cruise has other duties.

“Sources said this is simply down to the shifting release calendar,” according to Deadline. Cruise “will now be needed on promotional duties by the studio for Top Gun: Maverick ahead of that film’s planned release on July 2, and will be out of action for a period. Once that film has rolled out – hopefully to packed cinemas in a post-Covid world – production on MI: 8 can begin, meaning the gap shouldn’t be too impactful.”

Over the weekend, the U.K. Sun tabloid reported that M:I 7 had been forced to cut short production in the Middle East for COVID-related reasons. Director Christopher McQuarrie appeared to dispute that in an Instagram post. “Now back to London for a few finishing touches. All aboard for our greatest challenge yet…” the director wrote.

Paramount’s original plan was to film two M:I films at once so they could be released a year apart. Marvel Studios did something similar with two Avengers movies released in 2018 and 2019. At one time, Bonds 24 and 25 were to do the same thing. But star Daniel Craig vetoed such a move. Bond 24 became SPECTRE. Bond 25, years later, is on hold as No Time to Die.