This is the big question we’re asking ourselves after a deleted scene from Disney’s “Tron: Ares” popped up online. In case you missed the big discourse, with an estimated budget of $347.5 million, “Ares” is being viewed as a HUGE bomb, as it’s grossed about $160 million.
Why, though? Why would such a beloved franchise’s return with incredible visuals and an even better score (from Nine Inch Nails) not be a hit? The easy answer, as we predicted since his involvement’s announcement), is Oscar winner Jared Leto.
A controversial (look up the numerous allegations against the actor) yet still bafflingly popular-to-cast leading man, Leto reportedly is the reason the film got made in the first place. A lifelong fan of the “Tron” franchise, Leto fought the house of mouse to get this project off the ground. He’s also the biggest reason people avoided seeing it in the theater. (Which you can look up yourself to see literal thousands of posts across all social media from those who chose to avoid the film citing Leto as the reason.)
If we look at the other big franchise Leto was part of, we see similar results. Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man” adjacent “Morbius” was a disaster. What’s weird is Sony now claims the film was profitable- with a reported $75 million budget, it brought in $167 million. We’re actually not sure which of those numbers is the more unbelievable, but, by all accounts, the film was a failure, and it killed the other Sinister Six projects in the works.
So, with “Tron: Ares” performing so poorly at the box office despite everything working in its favor, is there anything that could have saved it? (Other than not having Leto involved, obviously.)
The first step would’ve been a better script. So much of what went wrong with the resulting film begins and ends with a poor script. Where was the motivation for Ares? How did he suddenly go from a program on the Grid to just a guy in a car talking about how amazing Depeche Mode is? (I mean he’s not wrong, but where the hell did that come from?!) Was there a sub routine in his program to allow him to evolve emotion? Did his user listen to Depeche Mode, introducing him to it? That’s just the tip of the frozen energy iceberg, really.
But what we want to draw your attention to is THIS deleted scene that’s making the rounds. It shows Greta Lee‘s character Eve putting on her suit after she was rezzed to the Grid. It’s highly reminiscent of the iconic Sirens scene in “Tron: Legacy,” when they suit up Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) for his games.
The existence of the scene raises some questions. Why was this filmed, but not included? Was it because it was too much of a straight reshot scene? Because director Joachim Rønning (“Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil“) didn’t feel it advanced the story? Did the higherups at Disney make the call? Who released the scene? What was their goal by releasing it?
While we don’t know those answers, we do know it’s a prime example of a way to tie the third film into the second film, which “Ares” avoided. Sure, there’s a blink and you’ll miss it shot of a character wearing a Daft Punk shirt, and the design ethestic is straight out of “Legacy.” But on the whole, this felt like an attempt to bridge the first film to this new take, without enough connective tissue from the second.
“Tron: Ares” may still be playing in a theater near you. No word on when it’ll hit Disney+ or physical media.
