Box office analysts are sharpening the knives for
Tron Legacy (Dec. 17th), Disney's $200 million, nearly thirty years on sequel to a movie that nobody between the ages of 18-28 will have a real affinity for. They might
vaguely know what Tron is ("some video game" is the response I generally get!) but aside from a very small legion of nerds, this isn't a property that will get the blood pumping in the heart of Joe Popcorn. Will they even be aware it's a sequel, or be curious enough to care? According to
Reuters, the film is tracking low, as 'little as
$35 million during its first three days', which is a scary figure if that includes 3D and IMAX bumper prices. $35 million would be around the ballpark you might expect from a well advertised, good-looking Tron 2 IF it carried the $60 million budget it should have... BUT considering it cost the same as
Inception that opened to $62 million, one would think Disney need to hit $50 million minimum over the first three days. I think Disney are probably very nervous about Tron Legacy. I was asked by OWF's
Simon Gallagher the other day why I thought there was no Blu-ray transfer of the original
Tron released this Christmas to promote the new film, which is the standard thing to do with forthcoming, long-absented sequels and I said simply - "Because Disney don't want to remind the older generation just how much time has passed in technological terms since the original movie, and nor do they want the younger generation to see how uncool, unstylish, outdated or poorly made the original truly was". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEU5Mk_pmlE I mean it's an undeniable truth that Tron is not
Star Wars cool, or
Indiana Jones cool, or even nostalgically cool like
Star Trek. It wasn't a good film in the 80's, it's even worse now, and why on Earth Disney thought they could get away with an over-inflated budget for a glitzy redo of what was only a moderately successful movie a generation ago, is anyone's guess.