There is plenty of discourse today about how Disney has diverged from its original mission statement and is going broke by going woke. See South Park for more details. However you could easily argue that The Black Hole was another divergence. With the family friendly company going full on horror sci-fi, disaster movie and religious apocalypse. So no exactly child friendly despite the rating.
The Black Hole concerns the crew of The Palomino, an exploratory space ship which comes across a giant black hole and a long lost spaceship positioned near to its gravitational pull. Anyone familiar with any sci-fi movie knows that abandoned looking spaceships are never good news, especially when curiosity gets the better of those who find it.
While this was an obvious box office flop, it has regained its status with an older audience and as it stands The Black Hole is a cult classic. Even it sound effects have been sampled by bands such as The Future Sound Of London. While the visuals are still stunning even to this day.
The obvious reason for the box office failure is that people were expecting a Star Wars kid friendly movie. But instead we are met with plainly evil scientists, zombies, evisceration and visions of hell. The first act of the movie is fairly standard sci-fi, but then morphs into a full on disaster flick. Albeit with some kid friendly scenes which are over shadowed by the ominous tone of the majority of the screen time. The ending is reminiscent of 2001 A Space Odyssey, so that's another nail in the coffin for kid friendly films.
The Black Hole is a very 1970's sci-fi. It has high production values, a great cast, great score, amazing visuals and doesn't treat its audience as kids. It is also opaque, nihilistic and sinister. Its up to you if that is something you are willing to engage with.
The Black Hole concerns the crew of The Palomino, an exploratory space ship which comes across a giant black hole and a long lost spaceship positioned near to its gravitational pull. Anyone familiar with any sci-fi movie knows that abandoned looking spaceships are never good news, especially when curiosity gets the better of those who find it.
While this was an obvious box office flop, it has regained its status with an older audience and as it stands The Black Hole is a cult classic. Even it sound effects have been sampled by bands such as The Future Sound Of London. While the visuals are still stunning even to this day.
The obvious reason for the box office failure is that people were expecting a Star Wars kid friendly movie. But instead we are met with plainly evil scientists, zombies, evisceration and visions of hell. The first act of the movie is fairly standard sci-fi, but then morphs into a full on disaster flick. Albeit with some kid friendly scenes which are over shadowed by the ominous tone of the majority of the screen time. The ending is reminiscent of 2001 A Space Odyssey, so that's another nail in the coffin for kid friendly films.
The Black Hole is a very 1970's sci-fi. It has high production values, a great cast, great score, amazing visuals and doesn't treat its audience as kids. It is also opaque, nihilistic and sinister. Its up to you if that is something you are willing to engage with.