Jared Leto-Starring Threequel ‘Tron: Ares’ Is A New ‘Tron’ Bomb, And The Excuses Are Getting Weird
The new Tron film starring Jared Leto is a flop, critically and commercially, but instead of Disney taking accountability for some of the choices vis-à-vis story and casting, the oddest of excuses are being thrown around.
RELATED: ‘Tron: Ares’ Review – From Morbin’ Time To “Tronnin’ Time” For Jared Leto
Deadline wins the prize for the strangest, as the trade blames COVID, a contributing cause for worldwide shutdowns five years ago, for the lackluster turnout to Tron: Ares in theaters last weekend.
“The long-term lasting impact from Covid [emphasis added] thwarting moviegoing is easily felt this weekend as two movies, one a $180M sci-fi franchise reboot in Tron: Ares, and the other a star-studded caper with a hunky leading man, Roofman, are coming in under their estimates respectively with $35M-$37M and $8M,” they said in a Saturday AM report.
Obviously, this assessment is ridiculous since several movies have made bank, either reaching or exceeding expectations, ever since theaters reopened full-time in late 2021. Just look casually at films that came out this year: A Minecraft Movie, Weapons, The Conjuring: Last Rites, Lilo & Stitch, and F1 had no difficulty attracting crowds.
The real culprit could be growing Jared Leto fatigue that doesn’t bode well for the new He-Man movie. However, insiders push back on that conclusion a little. Two who gave comments to The Hollywood Reporter concede Leto’s controversies, but place the onus on Ares and the question of the actual demand.
“You could have had Ryan Gosling, [but] it wasn’t going to work,” said an anonymous agency partner. “No one asked for this reboot. If you say, ‘Tron: Ares is good, we just need a different actor,’ you’re deluding yourself”.
That remark might hit closer to the truth. Although we wouldn’t discount the sliding reputation of Leto since Morbius, pop culture critic Dave Cullen offered a take along similar lines to the above. He compares Tron to another timeless ’80s property, The Terminator, and says maybe Tron and Tron: Legacy are like T1 and T2.
Though stylistically distinct, the two duologies are a lot alike. They both tell a self-contained story across two generations that resolves neatly. While the door was open a little for sequels, as the Terminator series demonstrates, everything that came after was redundant and victimized by the Law of Diminishing Returns.
A case can always be made for more Tron, and though 15 years between movies is a long time, it might not have been long enough. Given a few more years and a better plan, it could’ve proven more prudent to keep the franchise offline longer before booting it up again. Progress isn’t saved in this game.
NEXT: Morbius Review: Dank, Dry, Humorless, Yet Decent
