From Prometheus to The Black Hole

We at TG know that Prometheus has a lot of fans out there, and there’s currently a sequel in the works at Fox.

While the film received mixed reviews and audience reaction, it still did well enough for a second part to get the go-ahead, and perhaps its audience will eventually grow, like the cult for Blade Runner.

Now Collider confirms that Jon Spathis, who co-wrote Prometheus with Damon Lindelof (Star Trek Into Darkness) will work on the remake of The Black Hole. Now before you go groaning about yet another remake being made, just hear us out on this one. In this case, a reboot could actually be a good thing.

For those of you who remember The Black Hole when it came out in 1979, it was a big budget sci-fi film that was made during a transitional period at Disney. Before Michael Eisner came aboard and turned the company’s fortunes around, Disney was considered the last stop on the train for filmmakers. At the same time, before the company came back, they made some interesting genre films, like Tron and The Black Cauldron. 

The Black Hole was another interesting film that didn’t quite come together, but it’s got incredible FX, courtesy of Harrison Ellenshaw (Tron), some good ideas and visuals, an interesting cast that included Robert Forester (Jackie Brown), Anthony Perkins and Maximilian Schell, and a cool score by John Barry (James Bond).  

Again, the movie certainly has many flaws, but if you had to draw up a list of science fiction films that should be remade, I’d put this one at the top. And with Matthew McConaughey now officially onboard for Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, maybe black holes are going to be the cool thing in sci-fi next year.

There’s been a remake of The Black Hole in the works for some time now, and as Collider tells us, there’s been some interesting talent attached. Apparently, Joseph Kosinski of Tron Legacy is slated to direct (he’s also going to do the third Tron film, which is still in the writing phase), and Travis Beacham, writer of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim, also did some script work as well. 

Disney is doing the reboot this time around as well, and it’s interesting to note that not only was the original Black Hole Disney’s most expensive film up that point, it was also its first PG rated film. The original is an interesting time capsule to look back on today, and like Logan’s Run, it’s got some cool stuff in it, and it would have made a better movie if the bugs were ironed out. Here’s hoping that will happen with the reboot if it can finally make it out of development hell.