Disney was hoping to make a big splash at the box office with the release of their sequel/reboot Tron: Ares, but fans didn’t quite flock to the multiplexes as they expected. Box office analysts were predicting an opening weekend as low as $35 million and as high as $50 million, but it ended up much lower than that.
It debuted with an estimated $33.5 million domestic and just $27 million international for a global opening of $60.5 million, which is quite the disappointing return for Disney. The production budget is estimated at $180 million, which doesn’t take into account the untold millions the studio poured into publicity and advertising either.
There is no one reason why a big-budget studio movie succeeds or fails, with multiple factors contributing to a film’s success or failure, and these reasons below may have contributed to Tron: Ares‘ box office crash.
It Took Too Long After Tron: Legacy To Hit Theaters
Movie studios typically tend to strike while the proverbial iron is H๏τ, when it comes to sequels, often fast-tracking them for production to continue riding the wave of the original. That hasn’t happened with any of the Tron movies, with 2010’s Tron: Legacy arriving 18 years after the 1982 original Tron, and Tron: Ares debuting 15 years after Tron: Legacy.
Since Tron: Legacy performed relatively well in theaters after such a large gap, Disney may have believed they’d get similar results with another big gap. That clearly wasn’t the case. Tron: Ares‘ $33.5 million debut falls well short of Tron: Legacy’s $44 million debut, but it’s almost exactly half of its predecessor when adjusted for inflation ($65.3 million).
Tron: Ares Being a Soft Reboot Instead Of a Tron: Legacy Sequel
Disney was confident enough in Tron: Legacy that they put a sequel into development back in October 2010, two months before it even hit theaters. It ultimately debuted with $44 million, en route to $172 million domestic and just over $400 million worldwide from a $170 million budget. While not a blockbuster, it was enough to warrant a sequel.
Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn), Olivia Wilde (Quorra) and director Joseph Kosinski were all slated to return, with the studio even greenlighting the sequel in March 2015, though it didn’t last. Disney pulled the plug in late May 2015, following the disappointing box office take of Tomorrowland. A few years later, Disney started developing what would become Tron: Ares.
Of course, there’s no way of really knowing that a sequel to Tron: Legacy would have done much better compared to what Tron: Ares pulled in, or if it would earn a better critical performance than the lackluster reviews of Tron: Ares. Still, fans will likely be wondering what might have been, if Disney hadn’t canceled that Tron: Legacy sequel.
Jared Leto’s Box Office Inconsistency
Jared Leto has never been a big box office draw, so choosing to make him the lead of a mᴀssive studio movie is fairly perplexing. The only movie he’s starred in that has grossed over $100 million domestically is 2016’s Suicide Squad ($325.1 million), and that was an ensemble with major stars like Will Smith and Margot Robbie.
It’s possible that may change next summer when he plays Skeletor in Amazon/MGM’s Masters of the Universe alongside Nicolas Galitzine as He-Man, but that’s also a supporting villain role and not a true lead. His lead turn in Morbius ($73.8 million domestic, $162.7 million worldwide from a $75 million budget) didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
Other films where he’s played major roles have also underwhelmed at the box office, like Blade Runner 2049 ($92 million domestic, $259.1 million worldwide), House of Gucci ($53.8 million domestic, $147.4 million worldwide), and Haunted Mansion ($67.6 million domestic, $117.4 million worldwide). Plus, he’s considered by some to be the “worst part” of Tron: Ares.
Nostalgic Legacy Sequels Don’t Always Work
Sure, legacy sequels can be fun, bringing a beloved franchise into the 21st Century, but they are far from a guaranteed box office hit. For every blockbuster like Top Gun: Maverick ($718.7 million domestic, $1.49 billion worldwide), there are multiple failures like I Know What You Did Last Summer ($32.1 million domestic, $64.6 million worldwide).
Tron: Ares will likely fall squarely in between both of those examples, not quite as terrible a flop as I Know What You Did Last Summer, but certainly not the success of Top Gun: Maverick. The film’s ending does set up a potential sequel, but with this tepid box office opening, it’s unclear if Disney will still be moving forward.
Critics Were Not Kind To Tron: Ares
While critical success is certainly not essential to any blockbuster, it never hurts to have the critics on your side either. The critics on Rotten Tomatoes were rather split on Tron: Ares, which currently sits at a 57% rating, just below the 60% threshold for a “Fresh” rating. That is just slightly above the 51% rating Tron: Legacy earned.
While the original Tron debuted (long before the Internet) in 1982, it has currently amᴀssed a 60% rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics, barely putting it in “Fresh” territory, 43 years after it hit theaters. The entire franchise appears to be quite divisive among critics. Perhaps it’s just the high-tech world itself that critics continue to be torn over for 43 years.
Disney Is Still Having Trouble Connecting To Young Male Audiences
There was a report back in August that Disney was actively seeking pitches that would lure in males within Generation Z (ages 13-28) and Generation Alpha (ages 1-15). This was coming off the success of Warner Bros. A Minecraft Movie, which performed quite well among the male 18-24 and male 13-17 demographics, en route to $957.9 million worldwide.
The report added that the studio was specifically looking for global adventures and treasure hunt stories, and that Generation Z was the entire company’s primary target across all of their brands. There hasn’t been any specific data on what demographics drove (or didn’t drive) the box office for Tron: Ares, though the end result is still underwhelming.
October Is Never A Great Box Office Month
If Disney was truly hoping for Tron: Ares to be a box office smash hit, then perhaps they should have taken a closer look at the calendar. October is one of just two months — besides January — that has never had a film open north of $100 million, with Joker 2 holding the current October debut record with $96.2 million.
Perhaps Disney was keen on setting the October box office record, though October is often a dumping ground for projects studios aren’t tremendously confident in. On the other hand, Tron: Ares had no real stiff compeтιтion this weekend, and theoretically could have dominated at the box office. While it did easily take the top spot, it wasn’t as overpowering as many thought it would be.
The Tron Franchise Was Never a Cash Cow To Begin With
Given the advent of streaming, and practically everything being available at the touch of a fingertip, studios may be under the belief that people will flock to these older movies when legacy sequels come out, and that in turn will drive the box office for the new film. That may be the case for others, but not for Tron.
Disney may just have to reckon with the fact that Tron doesn’t have as big of a fan base as previously believed. The first Tron debuted in 1,091 theaters in July 1982, earning $4 million ($13.4 million when adjusted for inflation), en route to $33 million domestic ($110.7 million adjusted) and $50 million worldwide ($167.8 million).
Tron: Legacy debuted in 3,451 theaters in December 2010, taking in $44 million ($65.3 million adjusted), en route to $172 million domestic ($255.5 million adjusted) and $400 million worldwide ($594 million adjusted). None of those numbers are terrible, by any means.
However, when you have a $180 million budget and likely another nine figures buried in publicity and advertising, the Tron: Ares numbers may not add up to a profit.
