For a while, it looked as though Disney had given up on the Tron franchise, following the original box office disappointment in 1982, the equally poor-performing reboot attempt, Tron: Legacy in 2010, and even a short-lived animated series, Tron: Uprising, in 2012. After all, Disney had purchased Star Wars! They didn’t need another sci-fi property!
But it seems that nostalgia has won out and the studio is once again attempting to make Tron a viable brand. It has been announced that the studio is moving forward with Tron: Ares, another reboot, with Jared Leto attached to star. Leto has already wrapped another picture for Disney, The Haunted Mansion, which is slated to hit theaters in August of this year.
Joachim Rønning is in talks to direct, after previously helming Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and co-directing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales for the studio. Also for Disney, Rønning has wrapped Young Woman and the Sea starring Daisy Ridley.
Jesse Wigutow has already penned the script. He previously scripted the film It Runs in the Family, which starred Kirk Douglas and Michael Douglas, and the TV movie The Prince.
Disney’s History With Tron
Released in 1982, the first Tron was hailed for its groundbreaking computer effects. (Remarkably, it was not nominated for the Academy Award for Visual Effects.) Unfortunately… it just wasn’t a very good movie. It underperformed at the box office, earning $50 million on a budget of $17M. Steven Lisberger directed from a script he wrote, based on a story he developed with Bonnie MacBird.
Jeff Bridges starred as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer who finds himself sucked into the virtual world. Bridges pulled double duty also playing the digitized villain Clu. Similarly, Bruce Boxleitner portrayed both Flynn’s co-worker Alan Bradley and the overlord Tron.
Both original actors returned for Tron: Legacy. The focus in this film was on Garrett Hedlund who played Sam Flynn, the son of Bridge’s character. Olivia Wilde co-starred as the digital warrior, Quorra, Tron’s assistant-turned-Sam’s ally.
Joseph Kosinski directed the sequel, which had a budget of $170M and grossed a disappointing $400.1M. Not a total flop, but with Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise, the studio seemed to lose interest in creating its own competition with another sci-fi brand in Tron.
Last year, notorious method actor Leto starred in Sony’s dud Morbius. Also, last year, he headlined the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed. In 2013, he won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Dallas Buyer’s Club. Among his other notable projects are Fight Club, Girl Interrupted, American Psycho, Requiem for a Dream, Blade Runner: 2049, and House of Gucci. He also memorably played The Joker in the DC Extended Universe films Suicide Squad (2016), and Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Stay tuned for updates on Tron: Ares. Are you looking forward to a new visit to this digital world?
