Disney: Heir to the Star Wars Empire
After Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith had come and gone from movie theaters in 2005, we thought we had seen the last of Star Wars films forever. We prepared ourselves for this end and savored every last minute we could until the suns set on Tatooine.
George Lucas stated that no more Star Wars films would be made—by him or by anybody else. This was it. The story was complete. Star Wars fandom would now be exclusively a nostalgic endeavor. We had to come to terms with the fact that our memories of Star Wars would soon be permanently bigger than our hope for its future.
While we still have some media like the Clone Wars TV series on Netflix, an awesome updated Star Tours ride in Disney Hollywood Studios, some video games like those from LEGO, and toys, comic books, fan fiction, and most recently the Star Wars Rebels series on Disney XD (which we'll discuss a little here in the future), the core of the Star Wars universe was always driven by its feature films. The “episodes” are where the experience centered.
Since there would be no more films, we figured we'd witness the franchise's slow fadeout as a force in pop culture. It wouldn't fall into obscurity, it wouldn't be forgotten, but finally its relevance would probably depart from our world, fastened to George Lucas himself. If “every saga has a beginning,” as stated in the trailer for Episode I: The Phantom Menace, every saga also has an end. This was it.
Now there is a new beginning. Disney acquired Lucasfilm, and with it, Star Wars. It will not come to an end. Its cultural impact will not fall into some distant lore. Its story continues. It will begin with a new film trilogy that is already in production: Episode VII has a release date of December 18, 2015.
On November 6, 2014, after principal photography was finished, its title was announced: The Force Awakens. It's really happening! Fans are ripe with anticipation. We're scouring the Internet for photos and clues from the movie's set, discussing possible storylines and events in the new episode—nay, the whole new trilogy!
For a while we pondered if some of the original cast would reprise their famous roles. The timeframe to tell the further adventures of Luke Skywalker and his friends had been running out. When Disney and J. J. Abrams (director of Episode VII) announced Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford would indeed be returning to the galaxy far, far away, the dream we thought we couldn't dream was coming true. It was really happening.
Darth Vader with Mickey Ears, two icons merge, Star Wars and Disney come together. Photo by Todd King.
It seems the stars have aligned. A new breath of life has come for Star Wars. And it seemed to come so suddenly. Who would have thought 30 years ago that Star Wars would live in the house of the Mouse? But when you consider the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney, it is less like a merger of two businesses and more like a scene where an heirloom has been passed down.
Looking back at some history between both Star Wars and Disney you can see that it seems the stars have been aligning for a while, and Disney's role in this partnership is not its often-perceived conglomerate appearance but that of an heir, a supporter of the franchise for some time. With the advent of new Star Wars movies and rumors of a Star Wars Disney theme park (which we'll certainly explore here on MousePlanet) let's first go back and see the early, initial influences that these two entities had on each other and in the business of entertainment.
Disney and Star Wars in the 70s: Similar Ideas, Galaxies Apart
The earliest impact that Star Wars had on Disney was, of course, the release of the first Star Wars movie in 1977. Disney was already planning to enter into the realm of science fiction with a recently green-lit film called Space Probe One, which was going to be a pastiche of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—but in space, of course. While Space Probe One was in pre-production, Star Wars hit and took the world by storm. Cinema was reinvigorated and science fiction was fun again. The success of Star Wars led Disney to expedite its sci-fi film's release, and give it some needed attention and a bigger budget.
Space Probe One went through several changes, including a title change to The Black Hole. It was going to be Disney's biggest film in terms of budget. Not only was it going to be Disney's first foray into live-action science fiction, but it was also going to involve building new technology for special effects. This was going to be Disney's most mature outing in cinema—a movie designed for an older audience. To make that point clear, this was Disney's first film for which the MPAA gave a a PG rating to. Up to this point, all of its movies had been rated G (or unrated before there were ratings), which indicated that the content for those previous movies were designed primarily for the entire family; Disney always valued that its stories on screen appealed to both children and their parents, much like the philosophy behind Disneyland.
However, in the years preceding The Black Hole, Disney movies hadn't been doing so well at the box office. Its golden age of great animated films was long past, and its strings of movies both live action (such as Herbie), as well as animated (such as The Rescuers) were lackluster. Both Walt and Roy Disney had passed away, and the studio seemed to finally be showing its lack of leadership. Revenue was down, but worse, the studio's reputation for making quality entertainment had long been on the wane.
The Black Hole wasn't just a would-be cash in on the Star Wars craze—although the latter's success led to hopes within Disney that the risk would be lucrative—it was the hope of a company that, if it was a success, could regain its trust with its audience and, at the same time, turn around the film studio that for years had been struggling for a blockbuster. After all, Star Wars was rated PG and it captured the imagination of people around the world, especially children.
Two years after the release of Star Wars, Walt Disney Studios finally released The Black Hole in December 1979, billed as a rip-roaring space adventure with starships, laser guns, and robots and therefore hoped to bring much of the same audience of Lucas's new franchise.
Billed as a rip-roaring space adventure with starships, laser guns, and robots, Walt Disney Studios finally released The Black Hole in December 1979, two years after the release of Star Wars.
Star Wars had an impact on the entire movie industry, even influencing Disney's first sci-fi film, The Black Hole. Photo by Todd King.
Everyone, fans and critics alike, had high hopes for The Black Hole, but most especially Disney, which had spent $20 million to produce it and $6 million in advertising. Walt Disney Studios had hoped that the Disney name, the popularity of sci-fi in the wake of Star Wars, the special effects, and the grittier, darker story would bring in large audiences to the theaters. It did not. Was it a bomb? Not really. Was it a success? Not really.
With its final cost of $26 million, it earned $36 million. It almost grossed enough money to make it to the top 20 films of 1979; it came in at 21. It was a moderate success, but nowhere near the expectations of both Disney and cinema pundits who had predicted it to earn three times as much.
For its lack of big profits, it didn't help that just a few weeks prior to its opening, Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been released to great success, earning almost $140 million on a $46 million budget.
A large crew had worked tirelessly for the better part of three years on The Black Hole. In the end however, there was virtually no repeat business at the box office. Because of the Disney name, parents still brought their kids despite its PG rating.
Unfortunately, many moviegoers were at best confused by the story or at worst, beleaguered by the intense imagery and violence. In particular were two such scenes: In one, Anthony Perkins's character is punctured through the chest by the monstrous robot Maximillian and his spinning blades, and another scene is a fiery depiction of Hell.
Star Wars fans hoping for an action adventure space story from a big studio were let down due to the movie's slow pace, moody setting, claustrophobic sets, and special effects that, while designed well, were just not very impressive.
Detrimental to the success of The Black Hole was the studio itself. Having the Disney brand actually hindered it, since for too long, the name had been associated with movies for the entire family. A PG rating and a sci-fi setting could not separate the association with Disney and entertainment primarily aimed at children. Frederick S. Clarke, the editor of Cinefantastique (Spring 1980), summed it this way:
“Disney raised high expectations for The Black Hole with a great deal of publicity and tub-thumping calling attention to the fact that the project would eschew their traditional kiddie formula for a more adult approach. The gulf between what they promised and what eventually showed up on the screen is painfully acute.”
In the end, The Black Hole appealed neither to kids or adults; no one quite knew what to make of the final product. There was still money to be made, however, with that of merchandise—a lesson learned from the success Star Wars' avant garde marketing and licensing. Just as Lucasfilm had done, Disney sold lunchboxes, bed sheets, action figures, board games, bubble gum cards, comic books, pop-up books, and coloring books.
Unfortunately, none of it could save the movie's reception, and Disney all but disowned The Black Hole for many years, making no mention of it in its media, and outsourcing its later distribution on VHS to Anchor Bay along with other less-successful Disney stablemates of the era like The Cat from Outer Space and The Devil and Max Devlin.
In Disney parks, there is unsubstantiated information regarding a Black Hole attraction that was considered. Rumors persist that such a ride was going to be a simulator with a screen in front and moving seats for the audience. Riders would have chosen a route for the journey from some unnamed list of choices. Due to the enormous cost of flight simulators back in the day (estimated at $50 million, twice the cost of the film), which were only available from the military, and also due to the lack of popularity of the movie itself, the Black Hole ride was scrapped. However, the idea of a ride simulator was pulled back off the self for later attractions, including Star Tours itself.
In the years following the release of Star Wars, many studios created new science fiction stories and nearly all of them failed to capture the same success, including Disney. In recent years, a remake of The Black Hole seemed to be on track from the producers of Tron Legacy (even hinting at it with The Black Hole images in the background of Tron Legacy's opening minutes). But with the gaining of Star Wars into the Disney universe, it seems unlikely such a remake will happen, now that Disney controls one of the biggest box office successes in motion picture history.
