Before the bell 5-7-07: SNE, MOT, AAPL, DELL, JNJ ...

Main market news here.

In the entertainment biz, this weekend belonged to Spider-Man 3. Sony Corp.'s (NYSE: SNE) movie set a box office record around the world with an estimated $375 million worth of tickets worldwide, since opening internationally on May 1, distributor Columbia Pictures said on Sunday. In North America, the film earned $148 million since launching on Friday, smashing the opening-weekend of $135.6 million set last July by Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." The film set other records as well.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) shareholders will vote today giving billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who owns 2.9% of the company's stock, a seat on its board. MOT shares are up 1.2% in pre-market trading.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and record companies have started another round of talks. If Apple's CEO Jobs had refused to increase prices on iTunes before, he is willing to do so now if record companies will let Apple sell songs without technology designed to stop unauthorized copying.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) joined the Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT)-Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) business collaboration to allow open-source Linux software to work with Windows.

CoStar drug-coated heart stents made by Conor Medsystems, which was recently acquired by Johnson & Johnson Inc. (NYSE: JNJ), failed in a clinical trial against Taxus Express drug-coated stent from Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX). JNJ shares are down 1.3% in pre-market trading, BSX shares up 2.2%.

The chairman of Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) HBO cable television network was arrested in Las Vegas on Sunday on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend, the Los Angeles Times reported.

UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by Credit Suisse, shares are up 2.2% in pre-market.

DRI Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns, shares are up over 4% in pre-market.