It turns out nobody was asking for another ‘Tron’ movie — except Jared Leto. And after this weekend’s dismal box office, it looks like even Disney has finally gotten the message.
“Tron: Ares” opened to a brutal $33M domestic haul — a full $11M below projections — despite Disney pumping nearly $200M into the sci-fi sequel. Overseas audiences weren’t any kinder, coughing up a mediocre $27M. For a film that was supposed to revive the ‘Tron’ brand, this could very well be the end of the road.
Sources close to Disney, via THR, now admit the Tron franchise is effectively finished — or, as one put it, will now “retire.” After 2010’s “Tron: Legacy” barely scraped together $400 worldwide against a $170M budget, it’s clear the appetite for another one never really existed.
So how did this thing even get made?
Enter Jared Leto, who somehow convinced the world’s biggest studio to hand him a massive tentpole built around his character. Leto, whose last major outing (’Morbius’) became a meme rather than a movie, has never been a bankable box-office name. Yet through sheer persistence — and a well-placed ally in then-Disney live-action chief Sean Bailey — he managed to push ‘Ares’ through development hell.
It’s almost laughable in hindsight. A $200M sci-fi sequel built around an actor whose last few films (”House of Gucci,” “Morbius”) were punchlines, not hits. Disney knew the brand was niche, executives were openly concerned it wouldn’t appeal beyond die-hard fans, and yet, here we are.
Now, after back-to-back flops and a studio system that’s tired of vanity projects with ballooning budgets, the writing’s on the wall. Disney will quietly “retire” Tron — again.