Disney opened “TRON: Ares” on Friday to mixed reviews and weak box-office. The film came in with $33.2 million domestically and $60.2 million worldwide in its debut – that domestic figure at least $10 million less than its projected opening gross.
That’s not good at all for a film that cost a net production budget of at least $180 million. Audience reviews were better than the critics, but even there, the film still landed only a relatively bland B+ CinemaScore. A big issue is young males, the core demo for the film, they simply didn’t show up.
Now, THR reports that Disney is likely to retire the franchise from the big screen. On top of that, sources for the trade indicate Hollywood may now be over its infatuation with Leto, who served as the face of the film’s promotional campaign.
Screenwriter Jesse Wigutow revealed that the first iteration of the ‘Ares’ script was a different movie. Once Leto boarded as producer, the narrative was reframed so that the protagonist became Ares with Leto in the role and the subsequently became heavily tied to the film.
After the failure of “Morbius,” which opened to $39 million stateside in 2022, a chunk of the industry was reportedly no longer sold on the idea of Leto as a blockbuster leading man. Negative headlines earlier this year stemming from allegations about his conduct lead to concerns about promoting this film, but they didn’t impact the press tour with Leto getting out there in the past few weeks and promoting the film hard.
A talent manager partner tells the trade: “In a world where Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor and Benedict Cumberbatch are having a hard time getting lead roles, why would you even go to a person who can’t open a movie and who has question marks around him as a person?”
Leto next stars in next year’s “Masters of the Universe” as antagonist Skeletor, which the trade says is being seen as a potential good career move if he can pull of the balance of menace and camp.
