In 1977 the Death Star destroys a planet by causing it to explode. 32 years later when the makers of Star Trek wanted to show the death of a planet they injected it with red matter so that it slowly imploded on itself until it turned into a black hole writes Forrest Wickman. The Dark Knight Rises, Cloverfield, and The Avengers all contain scenes where structures implode rather than explode. Why the rise in implosions on the silver screen?

• Explosions have become too common-place and fail to excite audiences anymore. Implosions are refreshingly disturbing.
• In contrast to explosions which can be filmed by chucking a few sticks of dynamite into the item being destroyed, implosions were hard to depict before CGI. Now that CGI has become both more prevalent and cheaper film-makers have more artistic leeway and now have the opportunity to experiment with implosions.
• Implosions evoke the chilling imagery from 9/11. Directors are either consciously or subconsciously being influenced by the pictures and videos that have defined the decade.

To read other examples of notable implosions, Michael Bay’s fascination with explosions, why implosions will never be able to top the primal majesty of explosions, and to watch a video comparing the explosions and implosions from Star Wars and Star Trek, click here.

Source: Slate