Tron 3 Is Cancelled

Dave Knott writes: Tron 3 won't be coming to a theater near you. Disney had been developing a sequel to Tron:Legacy since the movie, made for $170 million, grossed $400 million worldwide. But now they have chosen not to move forward with a third installment in the sci-fi series, sources say. "Disney has had strong success with its live-action properties recently, including Maleficent and this year's Cinderella, which earned $527.4 million worldwide. But it recently had a stumble with the $180 million live-action film Tomorrowland, which underperformed at the box office this past weekend with a $33 million U.S. debut."

Comments

Not surprising after Tron: Uprising was gutted

[RubberDogBone]

There was another Tron mostly nobody saw, an animated series called Tron: Uprising which ran on various Disney cable networks.

It was.. excellent. Beautiful art, great music (improved versions of Daft Punk plus new stuff), really good casting and decent writing and plotting. All in all, one of the best animated anything that the American animation industry has yet produced. It was rather similar to an anime. Nobody would have been surprised if it had in fact come from Japan, but it didn't: it was Disney.

And of course a show like this made no sense to Disney so they killed it after one season. Boom.

Highly recommended viewing. Only 19 episodes so go for broke and watch them all at once. It will probably make you sad this was the last Tron, perhaps forever.

Re:Not surprising after Tron: Uprising was gutted

[Anonymous Coward]

All they had to do was re-run Tron Uprising after Star Wars Rebels, and they would have had two hits on their hands. What a programming block that would be. Introduce the SW audience to how good Uprising is, and the Tron franchise would have a chance to become more valuable. Someone at Disney hates Tron. Uprising is the best animated show to come out of the USA in... I can't remember a stronger show with such stunning design, voice actors etc. To think the fate of Tron as a franchise is somehow tied to the success of Tomorrow Land is just the type of logic I would have expected of Disney before they began to understand the goldmine of franchises like SW and Marvel. Maybe after the next regime change at Disney, Tron will get another chance, but I won't hold my breath.

Re:Of course it bombed

[tlhIngan]

America, you will be getting all your science fiction and fantasy in Avengers form in Galactic Basic. This is a win if you like big scifi movies that make billions of dollars, it's a loss if you liked a little bit of diversity in your movies. Disney will now double down on sequels and reboots.

That's everyone, actually. Sci-Fi is hard, and original sci-fi even harder.

It's so bad that the reason Hollywood avoids original stuff is because it usually does badly. Either it doesn't click, or other thing. Either way, original stuff is risky, and despite everyone's call for "More originals less sequels!", that is not translating into asses in seats. Which is the only factor that matters.

Now, sometimes it's just bad (like Tomorrowland), but it's original. And it's probably Disney's attempt at trying something new to see if it works. Since it bombed, that just means more Avengers 3, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and other stuff. Stuff original - that doesn't make money and is far more risky. Or in general, the people who request "original" films generally don't belong to the set of people who buy tickets.

Even a rather decent movie like Edge of Tomorrow (rebranded as Live Die Repeat) failed to do "well" - which basically means the death of anything original.

It's useless to call for more original films - Hollywood believes that the two groups (people who call for original films instead of sequels and rehashed plots. and movie goers) are two distinct sets.

Re: Tomorrowland is excellent

[meerling]

Don't forget that Avengers:Age of Ultron is still in theaters, and Mad Max opened the same time. Too much known competition for an unknown property unless it's something that will totally blow peoples minds, which are exceedingly rare.

Re:Of course it bombed

[Pubstar]

Well, to counterpoint your Edge of Tomorrow - Pacific Rim did pretty damn good ($190mil budget, $441 Gross). That was en entirely new IP. Could just be that Edge of Tomorrow sucked... or people (like me) don't care to see Tom Cruise in movies because all I can think of is "That dude is a crazy scientologist".

Re:Of course it bombed

[LWATCDR]

Actually I loved Tomarrowland. The extreme left hate it and says it is full of Ayn Rand references and the extreme right says it supports the global climate change hoax that alone makes it worth watching for me. Anything that drives those two groups into a tizzy must be good.
Actually it is a fun movie that is beautiful to look at and the story is pure fantasy. Of course it is hated by a lot of people because it actually attacks the current love of dark depressing "gritty" movies and frankly culture. It was also an ode to Walt Disney's dream of what EPCOT was supposed to be, his gift to mankind and not what it because a place to eat.