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The Walt Disney Company has developed many theme park attractions based on popular franchises. This includes Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Avatar: The World of Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and various Marvel-themed attractions such as Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT.
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But another. less popular Disney chose to invest in is the Tron franchise.
Tron Franchise
Last week, Disney began filming its third Tron movie (Tron: Ares). No offense to any Tron fans out there, but neither of the first two movies has been considered a box-office success for Walt Disney Studios.
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The first Tron (1982) was about a video game developer who gets transported inside a virtual reality world. A sequel to the movie was made in 2010 by The Walt Disney Company named Tron: Legacy.
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Much of Disney’s IPs have flopped recently in theaters, such as the MCU films The Marvels (2023) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). However, Marvel films, including Captain Marvel (2019), have previously made billions of dollars, and the Indiana Jones franchise has a history of success.
Credit: Marvel Studios
But considering Tron has yet to prove itself to be a good box office bet, Disney continues to double down on it.
According to a 2020 Forbes article, movie critic Scott Mendelson seemed to question Disney’s decision. “We had two Tron movies in 1982 and 2010, and neither were terribly successful,” he wrote.
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“History shows that this third installment will have no better luck in a far-less forgiving theatrical environment. When a sequel/prequel happens because the studio, not the audience, demands it, it usually (Solo, Dark Fate, Dark Phoenix, Uprising, Winter’s War) bombs quite badly.”
Nevertheless, Disney continues to move forward with Tron: Ares while canceling or delaying other projects, such as Snow White.
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Filming for the new Tron movie began last week in Vancouver, Canada. It’s being made by Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Rønning, who worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).
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The new entry into the Tron franchise stars Jared Leto as a sentient program that crosses into the real world. The movie also stars Evan Peters, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Cameron Monaghan.
Tron at Walt Disney World Resort
One also wonders why Disney moved forward with this property when it came to building a new roller coaster at Shanghai Disneyland and Magic Kingdom Park.
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Many guests in line (upon my recent Magic Kingdom Park visit) had no idea what Tron was. Young guests had never heard of either movie, and older ones were clueless about the original film.
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Of course, that didn’t stop anyone from wanting to ride the newest attraction at Magic Kingdom Park. Whether the new Tron: Ares movie is a flop or a success when it hits theaters, it could likely lead to a change in the latest roller coaster.
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Perhaps that could just be a quick overlay or maybe even a total “plussing” that changes the visual effects of the ride and includes more of a plotline.
Time will tell…
