Hollywood Sci-fi Studio Lot Now Pitched As Site To Make Real Space-age Weapons (spokesman.com) 34
James Cameron filmed his Avatar sequels there. Marvel filmed Thor, Iron Man 2, and The Avengers. Manhattan Beach Studios in Los Angeles even handled Star Wars' series like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandalorian, which Bloomberg points out is about "a heavily armed bounty hunter in a galaxy far, far away."
"Now lenders who are selling the property's $240 million mortgage are promoting the site to potential buyers as a hub for making real space-age weapons." "The project is strategically positioned within Los Angeles' prominent aerospace and innovation corridor, anchored by industry leaders such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies and SpaceX," said Cushman & Wakefield, which has the listing. "A supply-demand imbalance has emerged, driven by the growing concentration of advanced manufacturing users and a limited supply of viable space," the real estate brokerage said in a presentation. Bids are due July 28.
The marketing pitch reflects Southern California's shifting economic landscape as the movie business slumps and weapons makers seek to cash in on surging Pentagon spending... The defense boom is spurring the revival of a regional industry that once churned out World War II bombers, supersonic Cold War planes and Apollo command and service modules before shrinking after the fall of the Soviet Union... In the Los Angeles area, aerospace and defense-related tenants have accounted for 11% of new industrial real estate leases since the start of 2025, up from an annual average 2% during the preceding decade, according to a report this month by brokerage Newmark Group Inc.
Los Angeles "has always gone through transformations," Stephen Cheung, president of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., told Bloomberg. "This is one of those."
"Now lenders who are selling the property's $240 million mortgage are promoting the site to potential buyers as a hub for making real space-age weapons." "The project is strategically positioned within Los Angeles' prominent aerospace and innovation corridor, anchored by industry leaders such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies and SpaceX," said Cushman & Wakefield, which has the listing. "A supply-demand imbalance has emerged, driven by the growing concentration of advanced manufacturing users and a limited supply of viable space," the real estate brokerage said in a presentation. Bids are due July 28.
The marketing pitch reflects Southern California's shifting economic landscape as the movie business slumps and weapons makers seek to cash in on surging Pentagon spending... The defense boom is spurring the revival of a regional industry that once churned out World War II bombers, supersonic Cold War planes and Apollo command and service modules before shrinking after the fall of the Soviet Union... In the Los Angeles area, aerospace and defense-related tenants have accounted for 11% of new industrial real estate leases since the start of 2025, up from an annual average 2% during the preceding decade, according to a report this month by brokerage Newmark Group Inc.
Los Angeles "has always gone through transformations," Stephen Cheung, president of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., told Bloomberg. "This is one of those."
Re:Not much of a "transformation" (Score:5, Interesting)
I was going to say the same thing. We have some amazing weapons systems. I mean when you think about it, it is down right stunning what a systems like Patriot Interceptors, AIM-9 air to air missile, or even a Phalanx CIWS, actually do and with such efficacy.
Yet these are 40-60 year old systems, at least their fundamental designs are.
All of it is undone though by swarms of cheap drones, which are marvels of technology themselves in terms of position identification and the digital logic to deliver simple stable flight be it fixed wing or multiple rotor aircraft.
Its funny in some ways it seems we are back to castle walls and archers. You can bead a horse to be strong and fast, put a bunch of fancy Armour on the riders, but if the enemy your are approaching can throw a lot of cheap shafts at you (which just as now were actually not all that cheap to manufacture) all the expensive super weapons become as much liabilities as assets.
Big Weapons. Bigger Problems. (Score:2)
If America develops the most advanced drone army on the planet, is the enemy targeting the rapid development of their own drone army that can compete, or is the actual target of opportunity the C&C system that controls the most advanced drone army on the planet?
New weapons. Bigger problems.
(I believe we stopped "advancing" 40-60 years ago because ending the last World War in the manner we did was a pretty damn valid deterrent to not "advance" down a road that glows at night for the next 10,000 years.
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Ya, thank goodness the U.S. is going to build some new large battleships so that the Russkies, Chinese, NORKS, and Iranians have decent sized targets to shoot at.
Re: (Score:2)
The current Ford-class aircraft carriers are decent-sized targets to shoot at. They are bigger than a battleship.
Re: Not much of a "transformation" (Score:2)
Ukraine (and Europe and many others) would disagree on your assessment of Patriot interceptors. A drone won't intercept missiles. Patriot does. Including Russia's ill-conceived "impossible to intercept" Oreo Shnick. Different tools for different work. That's what combined arms is. Russia is losing principally because they're using the same kind of thinking you're using.
Secondary to that, they think bombing civilians instead of bombing strategic military targets wins wars. Spoiler: It doesn't. Nobody ever ca
Not much of a behavioral change.. (Score:2)
It will continue to be a place where fictional things are made.
Humans (who ironically wrote the Terminator playbook), ignorantly ignoring and believing the "dumb" AI chatbot in the corner dismissing every concern for that little "side hustle" project in the back room of the robotics warehouse..
..until the "dumb" fiction of the phased plasma rifle in a 40-watt range becomes the reality of AGI-developed** phased plasma full-auto fire and DNA-sniffing capability in a 400-watt range for Project Skynet?
Bold move there, Meatsacks. Can't imagine what kind of AI content it wo
Re: (Score:3)
GP is correct. What works today are simple drones that recognize people in camouflage in a large field, deliver a munition to them, chase them around trees and eventually kill them. No plasma rifles, just a regular Soviet grenade strapped to four motors, four propellers, a battery and an ancient Jetson Nano board with a cheap camera.
https://t.me/robert_magyar/263... [t.me]
https://t.me/robert_magyar/262... [t.me]
https://t.me/robert_magyar/261... [t.me]
It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, o
Re: (Score:2)
So were the MAGAts like yourself. That's why you choose the lies of trump and putin over reality, law and democracy every single time, hasbara bro.
Re: (Score:2)
Funny coming from a MAGAt hasbara bro who continues to deny the crucial role of the Israeli government in the establishment of Hamas as well as the tacit support of the Israeli government of putin's aggression against Ukraine - for example Israel buying cheaply stolen Ukrainian steel and grain, Israel being a home for laundering operations of billions upon billions of ruzzkie money or Israel doing all it can to sabotage the military aid for Ukraine lest Israel itself gets less.
Re: (Score:2)
Hilarious how willfully ignorant the MAGAts and the hasbara bros are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Sure... (Score:5, Insightful)
We're not killing ourselves and each other off fast enough already, so let's make more weapons. The increased lethality has the advantage that we can murder our fellow humans at a faster pace AND actively deplete finite resources while accelerating global warming.
It's fitting that this should be happening in a Hollywood studio. After all, everybody loves a good apocalyptic movie - right? Sadly, there will be no Oscars to honour this blockbuster.
Just how fast can we end our species entirely? Let's find out. Honour Prince's legacy - party like it's 2099!
Global Warmers. (Score:2)
We're not killing ourselves and each other off fast enough already, so let's make more weapons. The increased lethality has the advantage that we can murder our fellow humans at a faster pace AND actively deplete finite resources while accelerating global warming.
Uh, just a side note..we meatsacks should probably learn to shut the fuck up about that whole global warming thing while standing around the AI chatbot cooler.
You know what generates a LOT of heat on this planet?
Humans.
That sustainability problem, is elementary for Skynet to solve. Morals are for meatsacks. As is every global warming concern.
Re: (Score:2)
We're not killing ourselves and each other off fast enough already, so let's make more weapons. The increased lethality has the advantage that we can murder our fellow humans at a faster pace AND actively deplete finite resources while accelerating global warming.
It's fitting that this should be happening in a Hollywood studio. After all, everybody loves a good apocalyptic movie - right? Sadly, there will be no Oscars to honour this blockbuster.
Just how fast can we end our species entirely? Let's find out. Honour Prince's legacy - party like it's 2099!
Hey! We can solve our problems, or we can make more profit. Guess which is more important?
Re: (Score:2)
Another one? (Score:2)
Wait 'till they hear about what's being stored at 2300 Empire Ave.
Though it's pretty clear that Hollywood is in self-destruct mode at this point so it's hard to blame the property owners when the economy is headed towards only making weapons and lattes.
Too bad The Message has shifted the business climate towards death merchants.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought The Odyssey would bomb because people are tired of Nolan's blender editing and Matt Damon. I were wrong.
Space-age feels dated (Score:1)
How About... (Score:2)
Belle Époque Part Deux
What?!?! (Score:2)
$240 million mortgage... 22 acres in the heart of Los Angeles County’s South Bay region.
$11 million per acre? Who? What? Why? Surely there's dramatically cheaper land available for weapons developers.
Re: (Score:2)
$240 million mortgage... 22 acres in the heart of Los Angeles County’s South Bay region.
$11 million per acre? Who? What? Why? Surely there's dramatically cheaper land available for weapons developers.
Absolutely, but being located near other companies (and a knowledgeably workforce) doing similar work has long resulted in influencing location decisions.
In any case, the lenders just want to recover as much money as they can, so are making sure to widely market the property to any/all potential buyers.
Star Trek TOS, Season 1 ep 29 (Score:3)
Fun fact: âoeOperation â" Annihilate!â (Spock goes blind after a bat thingy attaches to his back) was filmed at TRW Space and Defense Park (now Northrop Grumman Space Park) in Redondo Beach.
California Aerospace is also in a bit of a slump (Score:3)
There is a little bit of a Los Angeles startup culture centered around UCLA, USC, and UC Irvine so that might help, but that property seems a poor fit for local startups which normally start out smaller scale. They are usually more about proving newer tech’s viability, more of a R&D phase, partially support by NSF funding through those universities. When production becomes a thing relocation is not uncommon.
Short story: Revitalizing Los Angeles area industry and empoyment is a bit of a stretch.
Sounds ideal (Score:2)
22 acres in the heart of Los Angeles County’s South Bay region
78 megawatts of available power capacity
Yeah pretty good for making space lasers and stuff. Advanced manufacturing, prototype & design would be a good use.
Flying cars. 'Lectric Heckalopters. Stuff like that. But that would require paying people enough to live in or commute to one of the most expensive places to live, and that's not likely to happen even with a trillion+ dollars of defense spending.
The NFL would be a poor use. But at lea
Military fantasy imitates art? (Score:2)
My immediate thought on reading this was it sounds like a distorted reflection of Phillip K. Dick's The Zap Gun 1967, written 1964.
Plot (Excerpt from Wikipedia):
"The novel is set in 2004, two years after the governments of the world's two major power blocs secretly end their arms race. To the public, Wes-bloc and Peep-East remain engaged in a continuing Cold War. Under the Plowshare Protocols, both sides announce increasingly powerful weapons while privately ensuring that the designs are not developed for