Director Joseph Kosinski says you can probably blame Tron 3 getting axed on Star Wars and Marvel
Kosinski calls his proposal for Tron: Ascension the "weird art student" of the Disney family
Aux News Joseph Kosinski
Ah, the perils of monoculture. Martin Scorsese tried to warn us that Marvel was choking cinema to death, but now even precious valuable IP is getting left on the table at the expense of Disney’s Goliath franchises. Or at least, that’s Joseph Kosinski’s perspective.
By all accounts, Kosinski is a big-budget success story coming off of Top Gun: Maverick. His directorial debut, Tron: Legacy, was another highly anticipated sequel–and he would have been happy to do another Tron, if not for the studio. “I got so close. I really tried. I got close in 2015, and Disney pulled the plug on it,” Kosinski told Vulture. “I hadn’t built anything, but I had the whole movie storyboarded and written. I was really excited because it was inverting the idea: It was all that stuff coming into our world, and it was about the blending of the two.”
“But it was a different Disney by 2015,” the director continued. “When I made Tron: Legacy, they didn’t own Marvel; they didn’t own Star Wars. We were the play for fantasy and science fiction. And once you’ve got those other things under your umbrella, it makes sense that you’re going to put your money into a known property and not the weird art student with black fingernails in the corner—that was Tron. And that’s okay.”
It’s funny to describe a major blockbuster like Tron: Legacy as the weird art kid of the Disney family, but compared to golden children Marvel and Star Wars, it’s not far off. Kosinski’s not bitter, either, reflecting for Vulture: “Had I made Tron: Ascension, I wouldn’t have made Only the Brave, and I wouldn’t have made the movies I made. But remember, the first Tron was not a hit when it came out. It’s a cult classic. And if Tron: Legacy’s becoming the same thing, I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
For the record, a third Tron movie is not totally dead in the water. Jared Leto has been attached to the project for years, and he even gave an update about it during the Morbius press tour. He told Screen Rant: “I’m a super fan of Tron, and we are working hard on ‘Tron’ with our incredible partners at Disney. Just an amazing group of creative people. We’re getting closer. We’re getting closer and closer, and who knows? Something may be [coming] sooner than later.” Maybe now that Kosinski’s flying high with Top Gun, Disney will come crawling back.
64 Comments
I need to be careful where I’m at when they announce Tron 3 is happening because I’ll need to change my pants
It’s funny to describe a major blockbuster like Tron: Legacy as the weird art kid of the Disney family, but compared to golden children Marvel and Star Wars, it’s not far off.This revisionist take is ridiculous. Poor little underdog sequel with it’s 170 million budget from Disney! Tron: Legacy is a mediocre film with a black hole of charisma as it’s lead, propped up by beautiful cinematography and an all-time great soundtrack.
Not to mention Legacy is a sequel to a pretty niche film known FAR more for its advanced for the time special effects than its story or acting.
I also agree about the original. Didn’t like it as a kid, thought it was a boring slog. I only appreciated it when I saw it on DVD because the cinematography and special effects looked much better than on TV screenings.
I liked it as a kid in the ‘80s because it had the cool light bikes and a story based around video games…when I was like 8 or whatever. As an adult yeah I appreciate the fx and cinematography but the story itself is kind of a mess.
Also Cindy Morgan, she’s a draw whether I’m 8 or 80.
I think I knew the movie more for the video game at the local roller rink than for the movie itself, which I remember looking cool, but being more confusing than Last Starfighter, which I saw at about the same time and was infinitely more awesome to my 6 or 8 year old or whatever self.
All of this is true. It’s no surprise the tie-in arcade game was a hell of a lot more memorable.
The thing with Tron is for its fault, its kinda really well paced. We watched it last year an expected my 6 year old to nope out and go play or do something else during it but the kid was glued to the movie. There is something about it that just gets your attention.
Yeah I can’t argue with that, the pacing is pretty good.
The light cycles were less interesting in the sequel , simply because they could move around freely. There was something more interesting about the bikes moving 90 degree angles.
The morphing game field of the sequel’s Disc Wars was great and looked amazing in 3d because it was smooth but too complex to fully grasp. This was the only thing that looked truly like a digital future. As you said, the Lightcycle game was just too standard and everything else just looked like stock LED sci-fi tropes.
Still waiting to for a film to realize they should move beyond electro-mechanical visuals and start incorporating the soft deformations of AI/DeepLearning aesthetics. I mean this is a one minute result from a web-based version of DALL-E. This is what futuristic visuals are trending toward now.
Jeff Bridges is great in it but, let be honest, you would be hard pressed to find a movie where Jeff Bridges isn’t the most interesting part of the thing. Especially 80s Jeff Bridges. I am fairly certain seeing Jeff Bridges change his shirt in an early scene of Tron awakened A LOT of young peoples sexuality.
its 10000x times more well known for the video game (and clones). Tron, Nort, Polly Python, Jezz-Ball, countless more Tron clones…
This. It wasn’t the “weird art kid,” it was the “normal rich kid with nothing to say” who thought that buying a Daft Punk soundtrack would make him cool by osmosis. Also note how Kosinski mentions the storyboards before the script – he’s an architecture student turned filmmaker, and there’s no shame in that, but being skilled at composing cool visuals is not synonymous with being a creative storyteller.
It wasn’t the “weird art kid,” it was the “normal rich kid with nothing to say”That’s a great way to put it.
In a visual medium, it totally makes sense for some people to storyboard before the script as a lot of writing and rewriting happens during that phase. As to whether or not he would have delivered a good script is another question entirely…
It’s the “weird art kid” who lists an ad short called “Taco Bell: Web of Fries” in prime position in his imdb page. Yep, stick it to Del Taco, you visionary. He’s basically a slightly-artier Shawn Levy.
The story board is the outline of the story. Not pretty pictures of the background. Literally the bones of the story. The script fills in the flesh of the body…..
It’s also quite a revisionist take to describe it as a “major blockbuster”. That $170-5M dollar budget was closer to $200, there was an additional P&A spend of $150M, and it grossed $400M worldwide. (And of course, it was supposed to spawn merch, rides, franchises, etc.). And it has no lasting buzz or impact, as a lame-to-mediocre film.Although he sounds resigned right now, if history is a guide, Kosinski will use his new buzz & clout to get Tron 3 made in order to “show everyone he was right”, and then he’ll blow another ton of money on an even-worse sequel we can collectively forget about by, oh, 2028.
“a mediocre film with a black hole of charisma as it’s lead, propped up by beautiful cinematography and an all-time great soundtrack.”so like a Star Wars movie
In my mind, Daft Punk put out a very cool experimental techno rock opera called Tron Legacy and then Disney made a 2 hour long music video for it.
Give me that with two hours of goth-cyberpunk Olivia Wilde and I’d be happy!
Yeah, I really wanted to love Tron 2 — and it looked and sounded amazing — but there’s just no there there.
Kudos for everyone actually working on a script for the third one, though. Hopefully it’ll be more than a few sentences long.
I still adore the original, but then Legacy was (as i recall) pretty-but-boring. I should revisit it, but i’m a bit stunned that anyone would’ve seriously considered making a third one after the meh response to it.
It’s both unfortunate and fortunate that, if it happens, it will apparently feature Jared Hellno. ‘Cause the franchise deserves better than him, but at least it means i won’t have to spend any time deciding whether to see it or no.
Stop with the whole Jared Leto thing. He’s not a real person.
Everyone thinks that until they get a load of used condoms from him in the mail.
I liked Tron Legacy a medium amount, but the best thing to do for a sequel would be to wait 20-30 years to keep the pattern going
Honestly, a Tron movie that moved beyond desktop computing is the right way to go. Give us a Tron movie once that AR/VR/metaverse world we’re being threatened with actually arrives.
Or just remake Lawnmower Man
It’s funny to describe a major blockbuster like Tron: Legacy as the weird art kid
Shoulda stopped there
Too bad it couldn’t put an axe in using the word “legacy” for sequels.
Jared Leto preparing for his role in Tron 3
For the record, a third Tron movie is not totally dead in the water. Jared Leto has been attached to the project for years
Contradicting statements.
I think Disney owning two powerhouse IPs would open the door for more weird, art house stuff, not less. With all that Marvel and Star Wars cash rolling in, there’s probably plenty of money to be thrown at weird stuff.But Tron isn’t actually weird, art house stuff. It was, at the time, intended to be a huge blockbuster. Just because it underperformed doesn’t mean it was some kind of scrappy underdog.
Whatever valid point might be made about monopoly and “monoculture” feels kind of lost in the blisteringly contrarian take that getting the MCU instead of a third Tron movie was some kind of loss.
Buckle up for James Cameron rebranding himself as an art house geek as he prepares to release more than a billion dollars worth of Avatar sequels on a protesting world.
Ah shit you’re right
I mean, they probably didn’t make a third Tron because Legacy was very poorly received and made little, if any, money. I guess it could have been a plot to slight true auteurship, but like… Probably not?
Agreed with all the negging on Tron: Legacy here; as a fan of the quirky, awkward original, I found the sequel to be prettily designed but hollow. However, its story had what I think are two awesome little reveals in the context of greater Tron lore. SPOILERS ahead (if you care about getting spoiled about Tron: Legacy)………One is that, of course, the mysterious disc warrior Rinzler turns out to be Tron himself — the eponymous hero of the original. The brainwashed Tron finally comes to during the climactic “light-plane” battle and mutters, “I fight for the users!” before sacrificing himself. A waste of the character, but awesome in that moment. (Bruce Boxleitner returned as the voice of Tron, as well as the older version of Tron’s human counterpart, Alan Bradley.)The other and deeper reveal is the identity of the seemingly-young-CGI’ed Jeff Bridges orchestrating things. Legacy briefly dangles the notion that this is Bridges’ original Kevin Flynn character in the machine. But then we find out that the real Kevin Flynn, while he is trapped in the machine, has aged normally. So who is this young CGI’ed Jeff Bridges? Why, it’s “Clu”. And who is Clu? Clu is Kevin’s forgotten avatar from the original film’s oddly protracted prologue, seen driving the digital tank in some early scenes. Kevin gets poor Clu “killed” in that tank battle, who is then completely forgotten about especially once Kevin himself is sucked into the machine and the movie really begins. I thought bringing back Clu was a nice touch — although I had to go back and rewatch the original movie even to remember who he was.
Honestly I am always just happy to see Bruce Boxleitner. I love Tron but I am a Babylon 5 super nerd and I love him on that show.
Yeah, those are two ‘smart’ choices. And I also thought Kevin Flynn’s ‘zen’ boring mode was also a decent idea.Really, they could have made it all a lot better with minimal tweaks if they had just been less vague aboutwhat ‘digital frontier’ the ISOs actually held in store, what CLU’s intentions were (an infantry invasion, really?) Encom’s whole deal (evil because profits, is fine, but doesn’t really mean anything for the rest of the story, it’d been more interesting if Dillinger Jr. were in communication with CLU or something somehow).
“You can probably blame Star Wars and Marvel for how this incredibly expensive Jared Leto project isn’t getting greenlit immediately”
I was really excited because it was inverting the idea: It was all that
stuff coming into our world, and it was about the blending of the two
This ‘what if the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park got off the island?’ elevator pitch for a sequel has never worked and sounds like a crappy idea.
Hachi machi!
I just realized: I would watch the hell out of a reboot of The Critic. Or at least give it a try.
Hellz yes!
I don’t expect to see Tron 3 anytime soon. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find Tron: Parallels in development as a D+ series.
And that I might actually watch, there’s a lot more that can be done with the concept in 4+ hours of a series than a ~2 hours movie.
Honestly a Star Wars: Visionaries style anime anthology set in the world of Tron could be really cool
If you haven’t seen Tron: Uprising yet, preparest thou overflowing buckets of popcorn and get thee to a screen.
Damn, now all I can think of is Knights of the Magical Light.
They should bring back this:
I mean or you could blame Tron: Legacy being kinda a slog. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Tron fan. I love the first movie and I love Legacy but I would not call either “Good” movies and neither demanded a sequel. Now that Disney World is getting a Tron ride though, maybe the franchise will get another entry
Man, there’s a lot of bitter people in this comment section.
Sounds like the director is way more bitter
I was going to blame sunspots, but ok, fine. Star Wars it is then.
I’d much prefer Kosinski trying again to get his Tron 3 into production instead of whatever nonsense Jared Leto is trying to cook up. I mean just look at their two movies this year, who would be better in charge of Tron 3..
Also Disney, why the hell is Tron Legacy still not available in 4K?
I’m cool with a “Tron 3″ just don’t make one so vapid as the second.
I was surprised to see that Tron Legacy made $400 million. I mostly remember it as a very expensive financil and critical failure.
Tron 2 cost upwards of $200m to make. If Disney is going to pay that much to pump out another mediocre sci-fi fantasy film, they’re going to favor the ones that make them twice as much money as Tron 2 did. That’s just good business.It would be a different story if Tron 2 were something special, but it wasn’t.
Quit trying to make Tron a thing