Disney took a risk with “Tron: Ares” – and completely failed at the box office. Jared Leto is not entirely innocent at the alleged end of the franchise.

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Let's be honest, neither the 1982 original "Tron" nor the 2010 sequel "Tron: Legacy" were able to attract a large audience to cinemas. No, the “Tron” franchise has always been more of a geek and nerd dream. Technically ahead of their time and visually a feast, the sci-fi works truly earned their place in film history. But nothing more.

The fact that, despite all these negative omens, Disney dared to go into the grid again with "Tron: Ares" 43 years after the first and 15 years after the second film shows a certain willingness to take risks and trust in the team around director Joachim Ronning and leading actor Jared Leto.

However, it wasn't rewarded: the sci-fi film only took in $60.2 million worldwide on its opening weekend. A box office flop, especially considering the fact that the production is said to have cost at least $180 million. In addition, there was actually almost free travel due to the lack of competition.

As The Hollywood Reporter claims to have learned from well-informed sources, the studio has now learned its lessons and buried the sci-fi franchise with immediate effect. “Tron: Ares” joins the inglorious list of the most expensive box office flops. We'll show you more here:

“Tron: Ares” shows: Jared Leto is box office poison

Anyone who has carefully observed relevant groups on social networks and comments on YouTube, for example, will have seen that Jared Leto does not enjoy a particularly good reputation among film fans and the online community. The 53-year-old received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for his role in the drama “Dallas Buyers Club”. So it's not his acting skills.

But sometimes Hollywood stars become box office poison almost immediately. Before his breakthrough with “Deadpool,” Ryan Reynolds was considered unsuitable for starring in major productions for many years. Leto's most recent productions, "Morbius" and "Ghost Villa", also became million-dollar graves. The 53-year-old was accused of sexual misconduct by several women.

The fact that “Tron: Ares” was still produced is said to be thanks to the former head of the live-action department at Disney, Sean Bailey, who supported his friend Leto in his project. The combination of a dubious lead actor and an uncertain franchise was de facto doomed to failure from the start, as an insider emphasizes:

"Nobody asked for this reboot. If you say, 'Tron: Ares was good, we just needed a different actor,' you're just lying to yourself."

So two things are certain: Leto probably won't get a starring role in a big-budget production in the near future and the "Tron" franchise won't be reactivated for several decades, if at all.