11 MORE Movies That Led To Other Movies Being Cancelled (And Why)
6. Tomorrowland Causes Disney To Give Up On Tron 3
Disney might be the most powerful entity in the entertainment industry that have their own TV channel and streaming service, and recently added almost the entire Fox library to a portfolio that already featured Marvel Studios, Pixar, Star Wars and The Simpsons, but that doesn't mean that they aren't immune from a box office bomb or two.
In particular, they didn't have a great track record with mega-budget effects-driven blockbusters that weren't part of an existing franchise in recent years, with the poor performance John Carter, The Lone Ranger and Tomorrowland all resulting in huge financial losses. Not only has the latter failed to see Brad Bird return to live-action filmmaking ever since, but it also inadvertently caused the studio to finally give up on the idea of Tron 3.
Tron: Legacy may have earned $400m against a $170m budget, but it didn't exactly yield huge profits, so Disney were already on the fence about making another one. After the $190m Tomorrowland barely squeaked past the $200m mark at the box office, the higher-ups decided that they'd suffered one too many high-profile flops for their liking, and despite already having green-lit Tron 3 they changed their minds and shelved it indefinitely.