Editing Irwin Allen (section)

===Return to Warner Bros.===
Allen left 20th Century Fox when a change in management in 1976 cancelled the remaining three planned disaster films, with incoming studio chief [[Alan Ladd, Jr.]] feeling that the disaster genre had run its course. Allen was offered a deal at Warner Bros. by Jon Calley, who built an office building for Allen. Allen continued to work there for the remainder of his career.<ref>{{cite news|title=Irwin Allen, Warners Sign Production Deal|work=Los Angeles Times|date=21 July 1975|page=E13}}</ref>

The rise of new filmmakers such as [[George Lucas]] reportedly caught him off guard. According to one book, the success of ''[[Star Wars: A New Hope|Star Wars]]'' (1977) bewildered him; he could not understand how a film with apparently no stars or love story could enrapture audiences so fervently.<ref>Jenkins, Gerry, ''Empire Building'', [[Simon & Schuster]] Ltd., 1997, pp. 180–181.</ref>

Allen produced three made-for-TV disaster movies: ''[[Flood!]]'' (1976), ''[[Fire! (1977 film)|Fire!]]'' (1977), and ''[[Hanging by a Thread (1979 film)|Hanging by a Thread]]'' (1979). He also made ''[[Viva Knievel!]]'' (1977), ''[[The Amazing Captain Nemo]]'' (1978), and ''[[The Memory of Eva Ryker]]'' (1980).

For theatrical release, he produced and directed the big-budgeted ''[[The Swarm (1978 film)|The Swarm]]'' (1978) and ''[[Beyond the Poseidon Adventure]]'' (1979), and produced ''[[When Time Ran Out]]'' (1980). These three films were back-to-back-to-back box office disappointments, with the final failure of ''When Time Ran Out...'' effectively ending his theatrical film career.

Allen also purchased the rights to several [[Marvel Comics]] characters including Daredevil, Black Widow and others for television adaptation in the 1980s; he commissioned a script for a ''Daredevil'' pilot from writer [[Stirling Silliphant]], but the project never went before cameras.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Bond|first1=Jeff|title=The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen|publisher=Creature Features|url=http://www.creaturefeatures.com.html|page=561}}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

"No, I'm not going to run out of disasters", he said in a 1977 interview. "Pick up the daily newspaper, which is my best source for crisis stories, and you'll find 10 or 15 every day ... People chase fire engines, flock to car crashes. People thrive on tragedy. It's unfortunate, but in my case, it's fortunate. The bigger the tragedy, the bigger the audience."<ref>Irwin Allen, Producer Of Disaster Films, Dies ''The Washington Post'' 4 November 1991: b06.</ref>