Tron: Ares

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Tron 3 might happen with Jared Leto and, somehow, not Joseph Kosinski​

The legacy of Disney’s never-quite-successful enough Tron is complicated. 1982’s Tron was a watershed moment for special effects, delivering one of the first films to introduce the audience to computer-generated animation mixed with live-action actors. Steven Lisberger’s truly original work couldn’t muster an Oscar nomination for best visual effects, nor did it set the box office ablaze. Disney continued its Tron tradition in 2010. Joseph Kosinski’s Tron Legacy is another visually inventive feature unlike anything in the Disney vault that crashed and burned, like so many lightbikes (and by “crashed and burned,” we mean the movie only made $400 million at the box office). Yet, despite the immediate financial failures of the Tron movies, Disney always seems to be asking, “Has anyone seen the movie Tron?”

So, following the success of Top Gun: Maverick, many assumed that Kosinski had the clout to finally make Tron 3. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case because things don’t work that way. It brings us no joy to report that Disney is in talks for Tron 3, sans Kosinski. Instead, per Deadline, the Mouse House is turning to Joachim Rønning to direct [sigh] Jared Leto in Tron: Ares. Rønning, who just finished the adaptation of an Arrested Development joke, Young Woman And The Sea, for Disney, has been a company man for a few years, turning in big-budget sequels Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil and Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, two very real movies that actually came out and won’t instill much confidence in fans. While it is the most Disney thing in the world to throw a thankless sequel at this director, the movie would reportedly be a sequel to Tron Legacy, so anyone truly invested in the Flynn family legacy should get some closure, finally.

Come on, Satan. Whatever deal Jared Leto struck with you must surely have expired by now.

 

[James Gasik]

I really love Tron. But it really feels like a franchise that Disney knows is popular, but has no idea what to do with.

Oh wait. That's every franchise Disney owns, isn't it?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Tron Legacy was a beautiful dopey mess, but it at least ended with an obvious hook for a third movie which, I guess, we're just skipping now?

And yeah, it's hard to believe that it's this hard to come up with an acceptable reason to have light bikes and tanks zipping around in not-cyberspace.

 

[Kaodi]

How many actors can make our eyes roll as hard as Jared Leto can? Has he even tried to make himself likeable again? Hugging a puppy is not that hard.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How many actors can make our eyes roll as hard as Jared Leto can? Has he even tried to make himself likeable again? Hugging a puppy is not that hard.

It is when the puppies want nothing to do with you.

 

[Ryujin]

How do you actively kill a beloved franchise? Cast Leto.

 

[beta-ray]

I really love Tron. But it really feels like a franchise that Disney knows is popular, but has no idea what to do with.

Oh wait. That's every franchise Disney owns, isn't it?

Nope.

 

[Vael]

Oof. Do not want. I'll just go relisten to Daft Punk's soundtrack for Tron Legacy, possibly one of the best ever

 

[overgeeked]

Absolutely loved the original and the sequel. Even the cartoon was good. Cannot think of a worse actor to have involved.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ugh. Leto is an S-Tier douche, and always has been.

I wouldn’t mind his “what if my chemical romance and Coheed and cambria’s most boring members formed a super group” band, if it weren’t for the fact he’s in it.