Disney is now the king of the science fiction space. Since purchasing 21st Century Fox, the House of Mouse controls James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, which has taken in over $2 billion at the box office both times it has released a movie. Avatar: Fire and Ash will look to continue the trend, and it has a good chance if the opening weekend projections hold. On the TV side of things, money may not be flowing as freely, but Disney is still doing well for itself. 2025 saw the release of Alien: Earth, a series from Noah Hawley that took the Xenomorph where it had never gone before and earned plenty of critical acclaim.
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It’s hard to imagine a time when Disney wasn’t on top of the world. Well, nearly 50 years ago, the company took a chance by developing a sci-fi movie that was darker than just about any other project it produced. The risk didn’t lead to much reward at the time, as audiences failed to connect with the story. However, time has been kind to the movie, with many modern sci-fi enthusiasts embracing it as a cult classic.
Disney Brought Disaster to Space in the Late ’70s
Of course, the movie that defined the 1970s was George Lucas’ Star Wars. Audiences immediately connected with a galaxy far, far away and its colorful characters. Every studio that didn’t have Lucas under lock and key decided to go out and try to create their own Star Wars, which was easier said than done. Disney’s big idea was to give the green light to a script that had been collecting dust on its desk about a disaster in space. After a few tweaks, The Black Hole began filming in late 1978 to meet its December 1979 release date.
The Black Hole follows a space crew heading toward Earth after a long mission. Despite wanting nothing more than to put their feet on the ground, they stop to investigate a black hole and discover a ship they believed was destroyed years earlier. Upon boarding the vessel, they meet its lone remaining crew member, Dr. Hans Reinhardt, who has built robots to keep him company. However, slowly but surely, it becomes clear that Reinhardt is hiding something important. It turns out that most of the original crew died during a mutiny, and Reinhardt placed them inside the robots. After leaving the good doctor to rot, the remaining astronauts enter the black hole and head off into the great beyond. It’s a far cry from the Rebellion destroying the Death Star, but it’s an ending that deserves better.
The Black Hole Has a Complicated Legacy
Despite shooting for the stars, The Black Hole barely made it off the ground. The movie had a massive budget for the time, coming in at $20 million. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even able to double that number at the box office, grossing only $38 million. Bad word of mouth probably contributed to the lackluster return, as critics unfairly compared The Black Hole to Star Wars and found few redeeming qualities. Another factor was the movie’s PG rating, being the first Disney movie to hit that mark after including a few curse words and disturbing sequences. But even with all that baggage, The Black Hole has aged like a fine wine.
Disney eventually realized that it had something in the property, so it tried to get a remake off the ground in the early 2010s. A few different writers attempted to crack the story, but nothing broke through. Apparently, Disney wasn’t looking to embrace the darkness of the original and wanted something more family-friendly. However, that would be missing the point. The big reason that The Black Hole makes its way onto cult classic lists is that it’s a bit of a fever dream, being unlike anything else in the House of Mouse’s library. Doing right by it means making a new movie willing to take just as many risks as the original while using modern technology to give it a leg up on the competition. Until Disney is ready to walk down that road, it should just let The Black Hole stand on its own.
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