(Photo: Disney)
After costing nearly $200 million to produce, "Tron: Ares," the third installment in the "Tron" franchise, debuted in North American theaters last weekend to a dismal $33.5 million. Its global opening weekend total reached only about $60.5 million. With box office numbers expected to decline from here, "Ares" is highly unlikely to even break even.
The Hollywood Reporter (THR) recently published a feature analyzing the film's failure, gathering insights from industry insiders. One source told the outlet that Disney was already concerned about the "Tron" IP, noting its niche fanbase is not large enough and skews older, with younger audiences largely unfamiliar with the series. Following this box office collapse, it is highly unlikely more sequels will be made. At the very least, the franchise will probably disappear from the big screen due to the prohibitively high costs of theatrical releases.
(Photo: Sony Pictures)
Fans who followed the long development of "Ares" know that Disney was hesitant to greenlight a third film and had halted pre-production several times. It was only thanks to the relentless lobbying of Jared Leto, who served as both producer and star, that Disney finally approved the project. Sources revealed that Leto received two separate seven-figure paychecks for his roles as actor and producer.
However, Leto's efforts did not pay off and have instead damaged his credibility as a box office draw. One agency partner revealed that major studios had already stopped considering Leto for leading roles after "Morbius" bombed. Another agency partner was even more blunt, remarking that even actors like Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, and Benedict Cumberbatch are finding it harder to land starring roles. He questioned why anyone would want to "bank on someone who can't drive an opening weekend and whose character is even being questioned," referring to the multiple sexual harassment allegations made against Leto this past June.
(Photo: Sony Pictures)
Beyond his leading roles in "Ares" and "Morbius," Leto's supporting performances in other commercial films have also had mixed results. They have either been box office hits with terrible reviews ("Suicide Squad"), critical darlings that failed commercially ("Blade Runner 2049"), or failures on both fronts ("Tron: Ares" and "Morbius").
But the agency partner also emphasized that the failure of "Ares" isn't solely Leto's fault, as the public simply had little interest in the franchise. "You could have put Ryan Gosling in it and it still wouldn't have worked," the source reportedly stated. They added that no one was asking for this soft reboot, and anyone who thinks, "'Tron: Ares' is a good movie, we just needed a different actor," is deluding themselves.