Disney’s Cancellation of ‘Tron 3’ Is Latest In High Potential, Low Performance Trend For Franchise
Sorry Tron lovers, but it looks like you won’t be getting a sequel to Disney’s 2010 movie, Tron: Legacy. The news comes from a Hollywood Reporter exclusive. Their sources are saying that despite the fact that Tron 3 was never officially greenlit, for a while it still looked like things were going forward. Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski was expected to return along with Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund reprising their roles established in the previous film. Sadly, the buzz surrounding the film has ultimately led to disappointment.
This news comes on the heels of Disney’s latest film, Tomorrowland, failing to impress at the box office. Given Disney’s current trend of adapting their former animated works into live-action fare, Collider speculates that it makes sense that a film like Tron 3 wouldn’t fit into their master plan anymore.
This isn’t the first time the Tron franchise has faced some serious troubles. After the first Tron hit theaters back in 1982, it took a moderate haul of $33 million, leading Disney to abandon the franchise for nearly 30 years before finally revisiting it in 2010’s Tron: Legacy. Disney XD also faced some minor fan backlash when it canceled its short-lived animated television show, Tron: Uprising after only one incredibly well-received season. Producer Edward Kitsis spoke up on the show’s cancellation back in 2013.
“I don’t know what the future [of Tron: Uprising] is now. I know at the present, I can say we need more viewers….The problem is, not enough people are watching it…At this point, I don’t believe its fate has been decided. So if people keep watching, then there’s still a chance. Please watch. Tell your friends!“
Unfortuantely for Tron: Uprising, the viewership never picked up enough to warrant a renewal, a trend that seems to be pretty much par for the course for the Tron franchise in general. While Tron: Legacy was by no means a disappointment (the film took in over $400 million on a $170 million budget), its success can’t quite compare to the likes of Maleficent or Cinderella, both of which easily outperformed Tron: Legacy.
With live-action fare guaranteed to hit, it makes sense that Disney would be as risk-averse ever, especially since the few chances they’ve taken in recent years haven’t quite panned out (John Carter and Tomorrowland).
Is the cancellation of Tron 3 disappointing to you, or a predictable move on the part of Disney to milk some of their better-known franchise? Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments down below!
[Image Credits: TheWrap, Pog Design]
