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Tron: Legacy Team to Remake Disney’s The Black Hole

Posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

Disney is developing a reinvention of the 1979 sci-fi film The Black Hole, with Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski and producer Sean Bailey on board, along with Clash of the Titans scribe Travis Beacham working on the screenplay. Kosinski might direct if he can find time in his schedule, with his planned sci-fi epic Oblivion and further possible Tron sequels.

The details of the update are being kept tightly under wraps, though HeatVision reports that the new take grounds the story in “the science of a black hole, much more so than in the original,” and will see the return of the red robot Maximilian. Knowing Disney’s history, I’m sure this project is being developed for a 3D release.

The original film was Disney’s first PG-rated film, at the time, the most expensive movie ever produced by the company, with a price tag of $20 million plus another $6 million in advertising. Te movie’s opening credits sequence featured the longest computer graphics shot at that point in film history. The movie, which earned $36 million at the US box office, making it the 13th highest grossing film of the year, went on to be nominated for cinematography and visual effects Academy Awards.

For those of you who haven’t seen the original film, here is the plot synopsis from IMDb:

The crew of the spaceship Palamino stumbles across the ”lost” ship U.S.S. Cygnus, hovering on the edge of an immense black hole. Once aboard, they find the ship is manned by robots - it’s only human inhabitant, one Dr. Hans Reinhardt; an eminent scientist, missing for the past twenty years. His plan - to enter the Black Hole . . . Whether Dr. Reinhardt is a genius or a mad-man, one thing is for sure, he will not be denied his life’s dream. What lies beyond the Black Hole? Immortality . . . or, Oblivion . . . ?

Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright provided commentary on the trailer for The Black Hole, one of his childhood favorites, in a previous version of Trailers From Hell:

You can watch the trailer without Wright’s commentary below:

Comments

Allm0st

That looks like one hell of a corny movie. Possibly just a very bad trailer it seems to focus on a spoiler rescue mission rather than "the black hole". It just doesn't sell the movie for me, but I can see this being good then and a good remake for a change.

freemachine

I loved this film as a kid. Maximillian is one of the most villainous robots ever concieved. This is a remake I can actually get behind for a change. I'm curious to see how they will handle the ending this time around.

Darren Albert

Me too! Remember the chest drilling scene. He is definitely one of the coolest villain robots of all time. Like you, this is one remake I'm firmly behind.

REAL6

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tea Bags

Love how Sean keeps saying there isn't enough time for Lora/Yori and Dillinger yet a couple of weeks later there's time for newcomers Daft Punk to have a cameo? If there's time for Daft Punk there's certainly time to have Cindy Morgan (Lora/Yori) in this movie!

Sultan17

Daft Punk? Newcomers? Sheesh...

Octoberist

Even though I love parts of Black Hole including the weird ending, it's a dull movie. Very dull. I love slow and long movies if they are done well, but with Black Hole..geez. Perhaps the best aspect of the movie was the dark tone, but that's about it.

The Great Cambino

I'm actually theoretically OK with this (if they do it well) I loved Black Hole as a kid, but now I realize it was not a good movie at all. A remake MIGHT not be terrible...

MarkoP

Awww. I knew this day would eventually, come but I was hoping Edgar Wright would be the one to direct it.

Pizsama

I've never heard of this movie before, but one of my friends lend me a book with the same title by Alan Dean Foster, and now I realized it's the novelized version of this movie's screenplay. The novel is quite good, but according to this trailer the movie - no offense fans - sucked! Maybe a remake will match my imagination of the book!

bomberman

can daft punk do the music to this too? please?

Jeremy Wickett

Mmm...could be interesting. The original was a big part of my childhood, along with Star Wars, Tron, and Star Trek II. It hasn't aged as well as those movies -- even Tron -- but there's a wonderful Gothic tone to the film that still holds up. I've always assumed that original script was deemed too intense, and the suits over at Disney added a bunch of, well, Disney bits to the script at the last minute. The film's tone is wildly uneven, most of the jokes feel out of place and fall flat, and V.I.N.C.E.N.T. the Robot is just plain annoying. And woman who shares an ESP link with a robot? What the hell?

Still, the Cygnus feels more like a haunted house than a spaceship -- and the optical effects and production design still work together to provide a wonderful spooky vibe. And John Barry's score is among my favorites. Oh man, and the ending...

I hope the writers of the remake remember that this film is more of a ghost story, a haunted house movie, than a space opera like Star Wars, its most obvious influence. Few movies actually could be improved by a remake, and this is one of them.

Scott

I always loved this movie as a kid but a lot of the bluescreen work looks weak now. Still, the simple idea of a genius scientist disregarding morality to achieve his goal was done chillingly well as was the handling of Anthony Perkins' allure to Reinhart.
I'm very interested to see the look and tone of the remake and hope that the science of black holes is expressed accurately.

Alan Bradley

Daft Punk are newcomers to the TRON franchise is what Tea Bags means. I wish Sean & Joseph luck on this Disney classic. Hopefully they won't leave out a much loved/critical character in this sequel/remake.

Zazoo Pitts

I just realized by looking at the poster again (first one) (great 70s drawn artwork btw!) that the Eiffel Tower must have been the inspiration (?!) for the Cygnus. Either that or one of those flying-V guitars. :)

I hope Ernest Borgnine returns!

Also liked Bob, the country-western robot.

George W. Bush for chipmunks

Everyone has their tastes and everyone has an era in which they grew up watching their movies. For example i don't care much for the fast editing cuts of this age (which i like to call Clockwork Orange brain washing; lol; i guess it's for the short attention span generation SASG) Anyways, this film is beautiful in its production; so what if its not scientifically sound; it's suppose to be a fantasy sci-fi, much like Star Wars. There is a bizarre juxtaposition between dark themes and light Disney humor; not to mention the awesome soundtrack that in a few instances may be out of place but thats negligible. The destruction of the Cygnus by asteroids is incredible--destruction and mayhem everywhere !!!!!. There is a real sense that its the end for the characters but there is one last chance. Unfortunately they get sucked down into the vortex of heaven and hell (very very haunting ending with the music). What draws me to this film is the pacing. From the beginning we discover the Cygnus (the keyword here is "WE")
then we discover more intriguing clues (very mysterious) and then WHAM!!! GASP!!!!the Cygnus lights up-"What the hell is going on here!!!!!!" I Love it!!!
If you have been CONDITIONED to be bored watching 6 to 10 second shots ....... then forget it! but if you appreciate production art then this is it.
By the way the book by Alan Dean Foster of the Black Hole is quite excellent and reveals even greater details that were skipped over in the film (for example the origin of the e.s.p. chip implant, hmmmm)
I look forward to the remake even if i get a good dose of nausea from the cutting (thats if they decide to edit it in fast cutting mode-waaaaa-LOL!!!)

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