AI isn’t generating a profit, even at the box office. Deadline reports that Tron: Ares is set to lose $132.7 million for Disney. Previous reporting put the cost of the Jared Leto–led legasequel at $170 to 180 million, though it actually may be as high as $220 million. Combined with its 67 percent domestic drop-off in its second week, things are looking pretty bad. Or as one anonymous source told Deadline, “The idea that Disney would spend a quarter of a billion dollars on a Jared Leto film that is a franchise that hasn’t worked in four decades is insane.”
This is a repeat flop for both the Tron franchise and Leto. The original Tron didn’t meet expectations in the d’80s, only to gain cult status in the intervening decades. Tron: Legacy did fine at the box office, but not enough to fast-track Ares, which seemed to be vaporware for a decade. Leto has also been an underperformer of late. Haunted Mansion was a flop for both Disney and Leto. House of Gucci wasn’t the awards accumulator folks hoped it would be. And Morbius bombed so bad it became a meme. But at least the Tron ride at Disney World is cool.
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