Disney has scrapped plans to shoot a third instalment in the Tron series, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Previous reports suggested Tron 3 was due to shoot in the autumn, with Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund set to return to their roles from 2010’s Tron: Legacy. But the studio has quietly shelved plans for a follow-up, which would once again have been directed by Joseph Kosinski and might have seen Oscar-winner Jared Leto take an unspecified new role.
Tron: Legacy made $400m (£262m) worldwide, more than twice its $170m shooting budget. But the sequel to 1982’s pioneering cult classic about a digital cyberzone known as the Grid was not popular with critics, who praised the movie’s visual effects but rated the storyline as dull.
Much of the initial interest in Tron: Legacy surrounded the involvement of Jeff Bridges, reprising his role from the original film. The veteran actor played both Kevin Flynn and Clu, a digital being based on a 34-year-old version of the actor, transposed from his appearance in the 1984 film Against All Odds. But the events of the sequel meant Bridges would have been unlikely to return for part three, a factor that may have caused a certain degree of anxiety at Disney.
The studio is also likely to take a hit on current George Clooney-led futuristic fantasy Tomorrowland, which has taken just $133m in its first two weeks worldwide against a shooting budget of $190m – likely to be much higher when marketing and other costs are taken into account. And with the current programme of live-action fantasy adaptations of its own back catalogue continuing to prove profitable, a third Tron sequel seems to make less sense.
Disney has not yet made any public comment on the Hollywood Reporter’s claims.
