How bout a Blu for The Black Hole (1979) (1 Viewer)

[bryan4999]

Black Hole is not one of my favorites, but if Disney puts out a quality blu I will buy to support their releasing more live action on blu. I am very happy with Mary Poppins and I want more. 20,000 Leagues and Bedknobs especially, but there are quite a few others I'd like to have, too..

 

[KHH256]

While this film has always had its detractors, its place in the history of Sci-Fi films warrants attention, and indeed, if aq

 

[JWPlatt]

... Maybe it's the high cost of a movie ticket that makes them less inclined to take a chance on something new but whatever the reason, people most want to see existing properties.

It's the high cost of tickets that keep me, and my family, out of the theater. I do go to my biggest fan interests: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Star Trek movies. I'll also see Star Wars and Avatar when the next episodes are released. But that is literally my entire list. So I guess I fit your conjecture. For the rest - even Indiana Jones if another one comes out - I'll wait for home video if the movies are well reviewed or just look fun for my personal tastes. But when I go to the theater, I take my own Twizzlers from the grocery store with twenty times the content at half the cost, thank you very much. Absolutely no amount of 3D or other gimmickry is going to get me in otherwise. Even more counter productive is that 3D costs more, putting it way over my personal limit. The next Hollywood gimmick should be lower prices and honest accounting. That would win me back. I used to ride my bike to afternoon matinees for $1 in the 1970s all the time and I would go to see just about anything. No kid can do that today, even at adjusted dollars.

 

[DavidJ]

I'm guessing that most fans of the film saw this when they were quite young. I was 11 when it came out and loved it. Seeing it as an adult, I realise it's a pretty bad film by any objective measure, but I still have a certain nostalgic fondness for it.

This fits me. I understand that it is a deeply flawed film. I'd have to see it again before I could say whether I think it is "pretty bad" or not. It is these flaws that makes me think it is a good choice for a remake. The material is interesting and in the right hands to be quite interesting. It's not like remaking a classic or iconic film.

 

[MatthewA]

I have always had mixed feelings about the film as a whole, too, but there are parts of it that are good, and the score is enormously effective. And it did get Disney out of their comfort zone by trying something different than a G-rated slapstick comedy full of sitcom stars. I'm not sure a remake would automatically be a better film.

From this "PG initiative" era (1979-1984), I'd also like to see a Blu-ray of Something Wicked This Way Comes. That movie had a difficult shoot with a rejected score and some reshoots, the extent of which I'm not quite clear of. The laserdisc had an audio commentary with Ray Bradbury that has been included nowhere else.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a personal favourite. What I wouldn't oppose is someone like Shout! Factory licensing these titles from Disney, like Anchor Bay did in the 90s, and doing a smaller run; not Twilight Time small, but large enough to justify the licence.

 

[Jason_V]

I used to ride my bike to afternoon matinees for $1 in the 1970s all the time and I would go to see just about anything. No kid can do that today, even at adjusted dollars.

Not to get off track, but that's really close to being untrue. It does depend on when in the 1970s, but in 1970, $1 then would get out just over $6 now. I hit the matinee every Saturday at AMC for $6.50.

 

[JWPlatt]

The local Regal Cinema here is $9.50 for children at all times. There is NO matinee pricing for children - go figure. At Regal, you are a child only through 11 years. My cutoff was at 14 years back then. The matinee prices apply to adults only at a $1.50 discount from a regular $12 price. It suggests they believe adults always accompany and pay for the child. I paid my own way from earnings I made from a very young age (10+) and did my own travel (bike). My parents were well off and didn't make me pay or go myself; I just made myself responsible for things. $1 in 1970 is equivalent to $6.03 now. In 1979, it's $3.22, according to the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator.

 

[Jason_V]

The local Regal Cinema here is $9.50 for children at all times. There is NO matinee pricing for children - go figure. At Regal, you are a child only through 11 years. My cutoff was at 14 years back then. The matinee prices apply to adults only at a $1.50 discount from a regular $12 price. It suggests they believe adults always accompany and pay for the child. I paid my own way from earnings I made from a very young age (10+) and did my own travel (bike). My parents were well off and didn't make me pay or go myself; I just made myself responsible for things. $1 in 1970 is equivalent to $6.03 now. In 1979, it's $3.22, according to the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator.

All agreed, which is why I made sure to mention when in the 1970s we were looking at.

Also, the reason you stated above is exactly why I refuse to go to the Regal unless I can't help it. Sure, it's usually a nice theater, but there's no reason to pay the extra $3.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

There's a Bloodmobile that parks outside the local Cinemark every weekend, and donating gets you a free ticket (although you need to pay the XD/ 3D upcharge if applicable). You're only allowed to donate once every 8 weeks, but it definitely makes me more inclined to take the boy to the theater when a pair of tickets doesn't cost more than the BD will on release week.

And, heck, maybe I saved someone's life to boot!

 

[Tony J Case]

How is this any different from the existing Disney Treasures version? IIRC, there was both the theatrical version and the original American version (the "mini series").

It's been a couple of years since I put the disc on, but didnt we only get half the series? There were 6 episodes of both and we only got three each?

 

[Jason_V]

I don't know the in's and out's of Dr. Syn, but Wiki is showing a three part TV series (miniseries, if you will). The mention of a re-edit also says three parts...so I'm not entirely sure.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It's been a couple of years since I put the disc on, but didnt we only get half the series? There were 6 episodes of both and we only got three each?

I believe the disc is complete - it's been a while since I've watched it, but I recall it having the complete story. Wikipedia states that it's a three episode mini-series - granted, Wikipedia isn't always right, but that matches with my memory. I believe one of the discs had the three episodes (an hour each for about three hours total), while the second disc had the UK theatrical edit which ran about half the length of the miniseries if I'm remembering correctly.

 

[MatthewA]

IIRC, the Walt Disney Treasures disc of Dr. Syn had some problems with the way it presented the day-for-night shots too brightly.

 

[Tino]

Love this film too. 1979 was a great year for sci fi. Been watching an HD telecast from HDNet on my dvr for a while now. Won't delete it till I get a blu. Bring it on.

 

[Osato]

Count me in for the blu ray of The Black Hole.

Wasn't there a remake or reboot of this film coming from Disney?
If I recall it was going to be an all new story with no connection to the original film's story?

 

[FoxyMulder]

Wasn't there a remake or reboot of this film coming from Disney?
If I recall it was going to be an all new story with no connection to the original film's story?

I did find an article on it.

http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/49299/joseph-kosinski-the-black-hole-is-pretty-spectacular/
Joseph Kosinski’s remake of Disney’s sci-fi classic The Black Hole will keep the dark elements and advance the science, the TRON: Legacy director reveals, speaking exclusively to SciFiNow.
The original film, which starred Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster and Anthony Perkins, told the story of a group of a deep space exploration crew who find a long-missing ship researching black holes. The Black Hole is notorious for being one of the darkest Disney films ever made, and Kosinski tells us that the aspects we love will remain.
“There is some darkness, there’s this incredibly surreal and non-Disney like ending to the film that is pretty spectacular and it’s one of the weird aspects of that film,” he explains.
“You know, there are also pretty violent deaths in that movie if you remember, Anthony Perkins being chewed up by Maximilian, there are some dark elements to it. It’s such a peculiar movie, it’s got this incredible score by John Barry, it’s like this 50s science fiction movie trying to be Star Wars at the same time, it’s such an odd film but some fundamentally really interesting central concepts. So we’re going to keep all the stuff that I loved and update the rest with more modern thinking.’
“But Black Hole is another one where what we know now about the phenomena and the science of black holes compared to 30 years ago, or 35 years ago when the first one was made, we know so much more now and it’s exciting to take some of these concepts which almost seem like fantasy concepts but are real concepts, the way black holes bend time and space, to be able to incorporate those into a kind of an adventure film about deep space travel is very exciting. So we have Jon Spaihts, who wrote Prometheus, is actually working on that draft right now.”

 

[DavidJ]

Thanks, Malcolm.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

IIRC, the Walt Disney Treasures disc of Dr. Syn had some problems with the way it presented the day-for-night shots too brightly.

That's what I remember as well - the content was complete, but probably could have used a better mastering job.

 

[Osato]

I did find an article on it.

http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/49299/joseph-kosinski-the-black-hole-is-pretty-spectacular/
Joseph Kosinski’s remake of Disney’s sci-fi classic The Black Hole will keep the dark elements and advance the science, the TRON: Legacy director reveals, speaking exclusively to SciFiNow.
The original film, which starred Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster and Anthony Perkins, told the story of a group of a deep space exploration crew who find a long-missing ship researching black holes. The Black Hole is notorious for being one of the darkest Disney films ever made, and Kosinski tells us that the aspects we love will remain.
“There is some darkness, there’s this incredibly surreal and non-Disney like ending to the film that is pretty spectacular and it’s one of the weird aspects of that film,” he explains.
“You know, there are also pretty violent deaths in that movie if you remember, Anthony Perkins being chewed up by Maximilian, there are some dark elements to it. It’s such a peculiar movie, it’s got this incredible score by John Barry, it’s like this 50s science fiction movie trying to be Star Wars at the same time, it’s such an odd film but some fundamentally really interesting central concepts. So we’re going to keep all the stuff that I loved and update the rest with more modern thinking.’
“But Black Hole is another one where what we know now about the phenomena and the science of black holes compared to 30 years ago, or 35 years ago when the first one was made, we know so much more now and it’s exciting to take some of these concepts which almost seem like fantasy concepts but are real concepts, the way black holes bend time and space, to be able to incorporate those into a kind of an adventure film about deep space travel is very exciting. So we have Jon Spaihts, who wrote Prometheus, is actually working on that draft right now.”

I wonder if Disney's involvement with the Star Wars films will mean that this project has been shelved.

News on Tron 3 has been pretty sparse as well.