To summarize, Disney began work on a sequel to Tron: Legacy immediately. Legacy was meant to kick off a larger universe of movies and TV. As time went on, other expected hits flopped, and Disney acquired Star Wars and made it their new darling, the Tron sequel got shelved.
Jared Leto, who was going to have a minor role in Tron: Ascension, pushed to have a new movie made anyway, making his character the star. The result is that what was more of less going to be the third act of Ascension was fleshed out into a whole movie minus Sam Flynn, Quora, and Tron.
Imagine if Return of the Jedi was never made. Instead, the third act of the movie, the attack on the second Death Star, was turned into a whole movie but the continuation of the plots involving Han Solo, Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker were completely cut out. Then Wedge Antilles was made the star of the movie and he personally confronted Chancellor Palpatine and saved the galaxy. That’s pretty much what has happened to the Tron franchise. :(
So Disney had a decent time with Tron: Legacy, acquired Star Wars, shelved Tron while they obliterated Star Wars worse than George Lucas with the prequels, then decoded to go back and destroy Tron with a cult leader who’s also a shitty actor.
Peak example of innovation capitalists keep claiming they do.
Except Disney did not have a decent time with Legacy.
It flopped at the box office. Was a critical disaster and had mixed responses from fans.
Rightfully so, because it is a terrible movie, that had a great soundtrack and looked good. The new cast were really bland and the whole thing was a head scratcher. It really is amazing that the third movie was ever made.
It did not flop. It made more than $400 million on a budget of $170 million. That’s decent ROI.
However, Tomorrowland flopped hard and Disney pulled the plug on Third Tron movie and went all in on MCU, Star Wars, and live action remakes.
Seriously, i hate when people speak in an authoritative voice when they don’t know what they’re talking about. By every measure of commercial success that’s commonly considered, Tron Legacy did well. It made over 200 million in profit. It was expected to make 40-50 million on its opening weekend, and perfectly achieved that when it took in 43.6 million. It was the number one movie at the box office. It had a 170 million budget and earned 410 million at the box office, netting 240 million profit just on ticket sales.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron:_Legacy
I don’t even care much about the movie, i just hate when someone talks in an authoritative voice about something they’re completely wrong about
The $170 million budget is just movie production, it doesn’t include marketing and distribution. The $410 million at the box office is gross, not net. It’s what the tickets cost the customers not how much made it back to the production company. They almost certainly made a profit, but not nearly as big of one as the $200 million you propose.
Nah, the film grossed 240 million. Even if they spent 100 million on marketing then the movie still earned 140 in profit. If you like you can even throw another 40 million in there to account for any other costs, and that means it still pulled in 100 million in straight profit. By every commercial measure the movie was a financial success.
You’re still confusing net and gross there. Let’s say they spent $70 mil on marketing and distribution. $170+$70=$240 million in costs. Let’s also say they get 75% of box office sales. 410*.75=$307.5. 307.5-240 = $67.5. $67.5 million in profit. Again, they almost certainly made a profit, but not nearly as big of one as the $200 million you proposed.
Okay, but explain why serial sex pest and bad joker impersonator Jared Leto got cast in the leading role?
Jared Leto was a producer on the picture; he put up money and was a primary decision-maker on the film. He also had an ally in Sean Bailey, who was a producer on Tron: Legacy and was the Disney exec who was trying to get the follow-up off the ground.
He’s a cult leader.
OK but Wedge was a bad ass.
lol, agreed. I’m being all too kind to Leto with that comparison. But from a character standpoint, that’s about around who Ares is in the grand scheme of things. Which is why it makes no sense to center the franchise on him.
Oh I don’t disagree with you. In fact I think its rather accurate. I just want to make sure Wedge gets his flowers for being the best starpilot ever.
Yeah except I’m sure Jared Leto’s pull and direction on this is why we ended up with what we did and it has less to do with the failures and timespan. I dont see why the mouse wouldnt include more Bruce and Jeff because I know they are down since they’ve been in every previois Tron entry (except I’m not sure if Jeff starred in Uprising). I watched it a second time cause I couldnt recall a single character who wasnt Ares by name and tbh the second watching did not help. Everything is so bland and everyone is a CEO its completely unrelatable and boring.
Fun fact: Jared Leto is an abhorrent piece of rapist narcissist shit.
I don’t know about the others, but Cillian Murphy declined to reprise his role as Dillinger Jr.
Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde were off contract at that point, so bringing them back would have at least involved more money. So that’s probably Disney’s fault.
I can’t imagine Boxleitner saying no to being Alan Bradley or Tron again. I can imagine him not even being asked. Again, because money.
What? So that cliffhanger is just left there at the end of Ares? Lol dude I cant help but feel all of the original 1984’s potential has been squandered.
I’m talking about the teaser at the end of Legacy, I have not seen Ares yet. And I have no idea how or why they would continue the story of Tron without TRON.
At the end of Legacy, Dillinger Jr. is communicating with what appears to be a backup of the original MCP. But in order for that to resolve, they’d have to recast him. Which wouldn’t be horrible, because Cillian was barely in the movie and not even named on-screen, but he was a great choice for the role and Disney shuffling their feet with Tron for the last 15 years is probably what made him move on.
Ah, I hated Legacy so that makes sense why I never saw this. Yeah so many plotlines seem to be abandoned or unresolved as well as glaring holes in the world building. Why was this shit discovered in the 80s and towns didnt just become computers? Why is Encom seemingly known for games when they have a damn digitizing lazer? How did Dillinger’s company create their own without a lawsuit? Why is this the one franchise intent on destroying and wasting its original characters?
I enjoyed it, but the planned sequel with Sam and Quora would have been more satisfying.
ok, so since the latest flopped, does that mean they’re also shelving the sequel with OG MCP / dillinger ?
WOW! And they still managed to make it shitty! Amazing!
I have a group of friends that are fanboys of Tron in levels that I still don’t understand. They were to the premiere cosplayed as the characters* and still today think that they are a conspiracy to bad mouth the movie and kill the franchise.
* one of them is a professional cosplayer and was paid by a shopping mall to make some art to decore the theater for the premiere, but the other ones are just fans.
The problem with your Return of the Jedi analogy is that in the Tron world there wasn’t a Han Solo, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker story to continue in Tron.
Everything in Tron Legacy was completely contained to Legacy and the ending of the movie didn’t leave much to be explored.
There ending was an ISO that is now in the real world. Soooo other than a fish out of water that has a great ass, what is the story to be continued?
The bad guys in Legacy were completely nebulous and they certainly didn’t pose any sort of threat to the real world. All they ever did was destroy thier only bar.
In case it wasn’t obvious;
Han Solo = Tron. He was defeated, but not dead and Legacy hinted that his reprogramming had worn off.
Luke Skywalker = Sam Flynn, the son inheriting his father’s legacy (powers).
Darth Vader = Edward Dillinger Jr., the foil for Sam Flynn. The whole after credits scene in Legacy set him up for a showdown with Sam and Quora.
Tron was always a classic good vs evil story that parallels Star Wars pretty heavily. Right down to Jeff Bridges in Legacy being called a “Stoner Jedi.” An Empire (the MCP/Clu) oppressing an entire universe of beings and how a rebellion rose up to overcome them.
Edward Dillinger jr was played by Cillian Murphy in an uncredited role. The character didn’t exist.
Tron was also non existent in legacy. He had a single line.
None of these storylines you are talking about existed. A post credit scene is fluff.
