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Why did Disney kill the Tron franchise after Tron Legacy?

fallengorn

fallengorn

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Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,060
New York City
Like others have said, they didn't really make that much from Legacy, but I wouldn't call it dead. It's one of those properties that Disney will randomly do something with, whether it was something like Tron 2.0 or the Shanghai ride.

If Uprising came out when Disney+ was around, it would've had a better chance for more seasons.
 
JackRandom

JackRandom

Member
Oct 26, 2017
267
don't forget that the advertising budget was huge, game bombed, and the toys didn't sell. The effort put in was more than "400 million is ok"
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,936
I mostly loved Tron for its aesthetic and soundtrack. The whole thing was a mood.

Unfortunately there is a very large subset of the population that finds electronic music akin to driving nails into their skull. More people than not were probably not so enamored with the styling of the film either.

So the story being kinda "meh" on top of all that probably didn't help matters.
 
Kid Night

Kid Night

Member
Oct 27, 2017
474
If I remember reading correctly, the sequel was a victim of scheduling hell and development hell. They were working on it all the way up until 2015, then it got scrapped.
 
Tavernade

Tavernade

Tavernade
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Sep 18, 2018
8,622
JackRandom said:
don't forget that the advertising budget was huge, game bombed, and the toys didn't sell. The effort put in was more than "400 million is ok"
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Those toys kinda sucked if I remember them correctly. Nearly all of the action figures were just helmeted guys in black outfits with Tron lines, and some lit up. Quorra was nearly indistinguishable from a generic mook.
 
Druffmaul

Druffmaul

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account.
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Oct 24, 2018
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This thread just reminded me to check if Tron Legacy is on 4K blu ray yet, now that I finally have the setup for it...

Apparently not. =(
 
legend166

legend166

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,113
Opportunity cost. They don't want to spend $170 million for a $400 million gross. They'd rather spend $250 million on a $1 billion gross.
 
VorpalNonsense

VorpalNonsense

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,647
maximumzero said:
I think the one-two-three punch failures of John Carter, The Lone Ranger, and Tomorrowland scared Disney away from making any sci-fi films that aren't Marvel or Star Wars adjacent since they were pretty much sure-fire hits.
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Yeah that's how I remember it
It did okay but it didn't bust the block and with a string of duds on their hands they got cold feet about a series that only had lukewarm success
I'm real sad about it though I absolutely loved Legacy
Cant even get a 4K HDR disc 😭
 
Dice

Dice

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,239
Canada
Serule said:
?

en.wikipedia.org

Tron: Uprising - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Debuted 1.5 years after Tron Legacy
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Lol I mean yeah butt who cares, it's still been like 10 years since this series has seen anything major.

What a drag. Is that third flick still happening?

TrashyPanda said:
Disney waited so long Daft Punk quit making music.
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My wish on a shooting star is Disney throwing "Disney money" at the problem to reunite them as a major draw for the third flick..

I can dream.
 
Nooblet

Nooblet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,625
I actually read a report on this once somewhere and as such I do know the reason behind it. The issue is that Disney doesn't do tentpole live action films anymore. Disney was actually on board Tron Legacy sequel despite its mediocre box office, the VFX house was even ready for a sequel as they had everything prepared like Tron's deaged face, a somewhat working script etc but then:

1) John Carter bombed, so plans were put on hold
2) Tomorrowland bombed, plans were put on further hold
3) By this time Disney got Star Wars and MCU became huge

Basically due to the success of MCU and the acquisition of Star Wars, and the failure of the aforementioned films Disney stopped doing big budget tentpole movies. Tomorrowland was basically their last tentpole movie from an unknown/lesser known IP.
 
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No Depth

No Depth

Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,266
Worked in production at the studio a few years back(think this was ~2015), and should mention that a sequel to Legacy was being optioned with various(and I mean MANY) script versions and discussions.

Even made it so far as a planned location scout to Shanghai with some potential producers, but sadly as things were ramping up, the rug was pulled out and it never got green lit.

Many of us were very disappointed when it fell off. But always possible for it to still make a return in some form.
 
Gabaghoul582

Gabaghoul582

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Nov 2, 2021
2,388
maximumzero said:
I think the one-two-three punch failures of John Carter, The Lone Ranger, and Tomorrowland scared Disney away from making any sci-fi films that aren't Marvel or Star Wars adjacent since they were pretty much sure-fire hits.
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Yep. Thanks to Marvel and SW, Disney doesn't need other live-action blockbusters aside from their animated remakes.
 
WhiteRabbitEXE

WhiteRabbitEXE

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,588
Arizona
Serule said:
Also:

www.disneytouristblog.com

TRON Lightcycle Run at Disney World

TRON Lightcycle Run is a new roller coaster by Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World. This covers everything you need to know: opening date, previews, problems, and answers to common questions.
www.disneytouristblog.com www.disneytouristblog.com

IP is not forgotten.
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I wouldn't put too much stock into that. The ride system was developed before the theme was settled upon, and they only went with Tron after they realized the ride vehicles already looked like lightcycles. They didn't actually start off the project looking to make a Tron ride.

Then again, Disney's back aboard the film adaptation of park rides train, so maybe.
 
Juryvicious

Juryvicious

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,834
Absolutely loved Tron Legacy, and was and continue to be bummed there was no sequel.

So it looks like other movies bombing cost us a potential new Tron movie? BAH!
 
Senator Toadstool

Senator Toadstool

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Oct 25, 2017
16,651
they'll likely try again someday (they put up a ride and have video games and a tv show).

It's still expensive to do now but with that new screen tech I can see them trying again in the future
 
Khanimus

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,177
Greater Vancouver
Because it's a bad movie entirely reliant on its aesthetic and soundtrack, and people didn't show up in droves to see it. The show was pretty cool, but was extremely expensive.
 
Immortan

Immortan

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Oct 26, 2017
2,457
Los Angeles
They gave us legacy, and I loved loved loved it. But they wanted it to fail pretty quickly once they moved the timeslot to 12am.
 
ProtomanNeo

ProtomanNeo

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Oct 27, 2017
2,190
It didn't make enough but as I understand it the franchise has its cheerleaders amongst some of the big wigs at Disney. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if we get a limited series announced sooner than later.
 

Slatsunus

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,195
Good to see people mentions Uprising.

Reminder that Uprising is the best Trom thing bar none. Way better story and characters then either movie.
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

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Oct 27, 2017
7,795
Scotland
Don't think they know what to do with Tron. They touted the official licensed and pretty cool PC game as a direct sequel, Tron 2.0 which was I think supposed to tie in with future movies or was supposed to be a movie and got turned into a game. (Kinda similar to the Ghostbusters game now I think of it?)

Then they kinda just threw it out the window and rebooted it anyway.
 
Darkspellmaster

Darkspellmaster

Member
Jun 17, 2019
2,182
In regard to the light cycle ride i thought part of it being built state side is that it did well in Tokyo Sea. As others have said squeal is coming, I'd also point out there was the computer game as the squeal before the TV show and Legacy, and it was considered the successor to the original, with a focus on Bruce boxlighter's (not sure if that's how you spell it), son and being sucked into the Troy world.
 
Keldroc

Keldroc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,982
1. It barely broke even, a Disney franchise needs to turn distinct profit
2. It failed to make the leap to multimedia franchise
3. Regardless of one's feelings of the quality of the film on its own merits, it's a terrible follow-up to Tron, and seems afraid of its own source material
 

jey_16

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,329
why spend $170m on Tron when you can spend that on a Marvel/Star Wars film and make $1b

there's a reason why Disney bought Marvel & Lucasfilm - in terms of non-animated films, they aren't going to be taking anymore risks
 
dennett316

dennett316

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Nov 2, 2017
2,979
Blackpool, UK
Visually great but I struggle to remember anything that happened in the film, it was just ok. Ultimately it didn't make enough money to justify a sequel movie. I'm sure there are people at Disney with a soft spot for the franchise that'll see it get another movie eventually but Tron will always be a niche franchise.
 
burgervan

burgervan

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Oct 27, 2017
1,325
It wasn't a good movie. The only reason people remember it is the visuals and soundtrack. Everything else was completely forgettable.
 
jett

jett

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Oct 25, 2017
44,653
Shatty McKracken said:
Some friends and I watched Tron Legacy over the weekend after not having seen it in quite a few years and we are all In disbelief that Disney killed the franchise after this film.

The film is visually stunning and I think no words need to be said about how the Daft Punk soundtrack is a work of genius. The movie was well acted and had maybe a few weak parts with the story but the total package of the film is a spectacle. This should have been a springboard into a Tron universe and it did just the opposite. The movie also did a respectable $400 million in box office on a $170 million budget so it had a decent profit.

Any theories or facts or stories I may have missed as to why Disney wiped its hands of the franchise after this film ?
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1.- You don't spend almost 200M on a movie just to barely break even.

2.- They got Star Wars, they don't need to fiddle around with an obscure sci-fi IPs anymore.
 
Skunk

Skunk

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Oct 28, 2017
3,065
MisterHero said:
It wasn't because of itself, it was because of Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland really grew on me, I'm sad there aren't sequels to either.

Flynn Lives dammit
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Yeah, I loved Tomorrowland. Weirdly, it reminded me a bit of the first Matrix movie; in how it's sort of very mysterious and sort of winds it's way into slowly explaining its world. Very much dig the "how far does the rabbit hole go" kind of pace and exposition.
 
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