When Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy first arrived in theaters in December 2010, it didn’t quite set the world on fire as expected. A big marketing push for the shiny and expensive long-awaited sequel didn’t yield the results that were desired, as the film put up opening weekend ticket sales that matched the low-end of predictions. The performance made people question the viability and potential of the science-fiction franchise at the time… and now, 15 years later, we’re having the same conversation again as Joachim Rønning’s Tron: Ares has majorly disappointed on the big screen.
The new movie starring Jared Leto was set up to be one of the big blockbusters of the fall season, but it doesn’t appear that vision is becoming a reality based on the opening weekend numbers: the Tron: Legacy sequel cost even more than its predecessor and has started its theatrical run making less money. Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
|
TITLE |
WEEKEND GROSS |
DOMESTIC GROSS |
LW |
THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1. Tron: Ares* |
$33,500,000 |
$33,500,000 |
N/A |
4,000 |
|
2. Roofman* |
$8,000,000 |
$8,000,000 |
N/A |
3,362 |
|
3. One Battle After Another |
$6,675,000 |
$6,675,000 |
2 |
3,127 |
|
4. Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie |
$3,350,000 |
$3,350,000 |
4 |
3,049 |
|
5. Soul On Fire* |
$3,000,000 |
$3,000,000 |
N/A |
1,720 |
|
6. The Conjuring: Last Rites |
$2,935,000 |
$2,935,000 |
5 |
2,334 |
|
7. Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Infinity Castle |
$2,250,000 |
$2,250,000 |
6 |
1,834 |
|
8. The Smashing Machine |
$1,796,992 |
$1,796,992 |
3 |
3,321 |
|
9.The Strangers: Chapter 2 |
$1,550,000 |
$1,550,000 |
8 |
1,878 |
|
10. Good Boy |
$1,360,000 |
$1,360,000 |
9 |
1,650 |
Tron: Ares Struggles To Justify Its Cost As It Underwhelms Worldwide
It’s a case of all the money going on the screen, as critics including myself have praised Tron: Ares as being a visual spectacle, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that the blockbuster was seriously expensive to make. The movie was in development for years and years, and by the time it was finished with production, it was labeled with a major $180 million price tag (before marketing and publicity costs, per Variety). A splashy opening was hoped for by executives at Disney to justify pursuit of expanding the franchise, but that dream has died a rough death in the last three days.
While there were expectations from this past week from prognosticators (via Deadline) that Tron: Ares would make as much as $90 million globally, it doesn’t appear as though the film is going to hit that soft target. According to The Numbers, the film made just $33.5 million domestically in the last three days – under the predicted range of $40-45 million – and it has only made $27 million overseas. That brings its global total to just over $60 million… which is far from ideal.
Tron: Ares may have cost a lot, but its domestic debut ranks as just the 19th biggest of the year, with early tabulations suggesting that it failed to make more than last weekend’s limited engagement of Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, which made $34.1 million. It sits just ahead of Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later in the ranking opening weekends since January – but the horror film also had a budget a third the size of the new 2025 movie.
One also can’t help but notice that even without adjusting for inflation, Tron: Ares‘ numbers are weaker than the performance of Tron: Legacy. When the predecessor arrived at the end of 2010, it made $44 million in its first three days playing in the United States and Canada. The latest sequel can say it performed better than the original did back in the summer of 1982… but that’s not much to crow about since Steven Lisberger’s Tron only made $4.8 million when it opened.
Now, the big question that lingers about Tron: Ares is in regard to whether or not it will grow legs that ultimately justify its existence – which is notably something that Tron: Legacy was able to successfully do during its big screen run. The 2010 movie only barely cracked the Top 20 in domestic box office for the year (the big conversation surrounding the title being criticism of the digitally de-aged Jeff Bridges), but the $117.5 million it made at home was buoyed by overseas audiences being dazzled by the blockbuster. By the end of its run, it was able to make $400 million… which is what ended up justifying the development of Tron: Ares.
Will the new film be able to pull of the same kind of magic trick? It won’t be easy – in part because of its release date. Because Tron: Legacy arrived in theaters in December, it had limited box office competition ahead of it, as Hollywood practically never puts its biggest titles out in the early months of any given year. Tron: Ares doesn’t have that luxury, as there are plenty of blockbuster set to steal attention from it in November and December.
Tron: Ares is off to a tough start, and there will be a number of eyes on it in coming weeks to see it if it can recover (I can promise you now that my box office report next Sunday will include a second about the film’s weekend-to-weekend drop).
Released As Blockbuster Counterprogramming, Roofman Starring Channing Tatum Fails To Garner Much Attention
Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman was always positioned as counterprogramming for this weekend. No matter how much money it made, regardless of how much money Tron: Ares actually earned, it was always viewed as the box office front runner for the past three days, and the new Channing Tatum movie was destined for a second place finish in its debut. Still, there was probably hope that it would make more than just $8 million… but that’s where we are.
Tatum has a history of putting butts in seats, with examples from recent years including 2022’s Dog (which he co-directed with Reid Carolin) and Aaron and Adam Nee’s The Lost City: the former made $84.5 million globally with a $15 million budget and the latter earned nearly $200 million. His new crime comedy, however, isn’t getting quite the same kind of attention. Critics at large have had a mixed-positive response, and a “B+” grade from CinemaScore surveys suggests that movie-goers who have seen it are liking it, but that appreciation isn’t translating to box office thus far. Perhaps word of mouth will lead it to have a soft sophomore weekend, a la what we saw very recently with Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another?
I’ll continue to keep an eye on both Tron: Ares and Roofman, but next weekend will see both titles encounter some interesting competition, including Scott Derrickson’s Black Phone 2 (perfectly timed for spooky season) and Aziz Ansari’s comedy Good Fortune. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see how things unfold at the box office.