‘TRON: Ares’ Looks Like a Box Office Disaster
After a fifteen-year wait, TRON fans finally had the opportunity to return to the Grid earlier this month, when TRON: Ares sped into theaters.
Putting a new spin on the classic TRON format, Ares does not see humanity entering the digital world. Instead, this time around, artificial intelligence has broken free into the real world.
“Mankind encounters AI beings for the first time when a highly sophisticated program, Ares, leaves the digital world for a dangerous mission in the real world,” the film’s synopsis reads.
Expectations Vs. Reality
Ahead of TRON: Ares’ debut, the film was tracking towards a domestic opening of between $45 and $50 million and a global cume north of $80 million. Those numbers would have been fantastic.
Photo: Disney
Unfortunately, things did not pan out the way that Disney had hoped.
By the time the dust settled on Ares’ opening weekend, the film had grossed $33.5 million domestically and $27 million oversees for a global debut of $60.5 million.
Disappointingly, the film fell off its cliff in its second weekend.
A Disastorus Second Weekend
Accoridng to a new report from Deadline, TRON: Ares made just $11.1 million domestically over its second weekend in theaters. That number was a 67% drop off.
Photo: Disney
By the end of Sunday, the film had grossed $103 million worldwide.
Based on its trajectory, Ares is now tracking towards a final global gross of just $160 million.
Photo: Disney
That number, would be disastrous for the franchise.
The Breakdown
As broken down by Deadline, Disney essentially spend $347.5 million to make TRON: Ares after factoring in the film’s promotion and sky-high budget.
Photo: Disney
Even when you include Ares’ other streams of income, including theatrical rentals, global home entertainment, airline sales, and global home television, the film is tracking towards $214 million in revenue.
Doing some quick math, Disney stands to lose $132.7 million on the film.
Photo: Disney
Even if the Deadline calculation is overly pessimistic, it is hard to see a world where Disney doesn’t take a big loss on Ares.
The ‘TRON’ Problem
In the aftermath of TRON: Ares‘ disappointing debut, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about Disney’s decision making.
Photo: Disney
Specifically, many have pointed to the fact that Jared Leto (controversy aside) does not have the star power to anchor a tentpole film. Others, have critised Disney’s promotional campaign.
In the end, the problem with TRON: Ares is more simple than that.
Photo: Disney
The fact is, TRON has never been a particularly lucrative franchise. Despite its dedicated fanbase, TRON has never had the kind of widespread popularity that Disney has continued to hope for.
Photo: Disney
In many ways, the release of TRON: Ares perfectly encapsulates the franchise as a whole. The film is aesthetically pleasing, beloved by its fans, and ignored by most of the public.
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