Tron: Ares Release Preview - Early Reviews, Box Office & Hype Check

Disney’s back at it again! Dusting off a decades-old IP, pumping it full of CGI steroids, and praying nostalgia can pay the bills. Tron: Ares hits theaters October 10, and it’s supposed to be the “next big chapter” in a franchise that’s never actually been that big. Let’s be honest here — Tron has always been more tech demo than cultural movement.

Box Office: The Math Ain’t Mathing

The film’s tracking for a $45–50 million domestic debut and another $40–45 million overseas, so about $85–95 million total. Sounds decent, until you remember the budget is $180 million and that’s before marketing. That’s like bringing a Ferrari to a go-kart race!

The original Tron in 1982 made $50 million worldwide, cool for its time but hardly blockbuster. Then Tron: Legacy in 2010 pulled $400 million on a $170 million budget. Not bad, but not “make a third movie fifteen years later” good either. Yet here we are.

If Ares opens roughly the same as Legacy (without inflation adjustment), that’s not growth, that’s Disney saying “Good enough” while lighting a pile of money on fire!

The Plot: AI Meets PowerPoint!

This time, the story’s about an AI program crossing from the digital world into the real one. Sounds promising, right? until you realize it’s the same “evil tech company vs idealistic geniuses” trope we’ve seen since 2008.

We’ve got Dillinger Corp, run by a “nerdy grandson” who’s exporting digital soldiers that fall apart after 29 minutes (yep, really). On the other side, Encom CEO Eve Kim holds the “permanence code” on — wait for it — a flash drive. Not a quantum drive. Not a neural chip. A flash drive!

And Jared Leto plays Ares, a humanoid warrior who can leave VR for, you guessed it, 29 minutes. Disney apparently loves timers. The concept could be cool, but it sounds more like a rejected Black Mirror episode stretched to two hours.

Visuals: All Glow, No Soul

Credit where it’s due, the movie will probably look insane. Variety already praised its visuals calling them “spectacular” but then added it “reads mostly as an exercise in nostalgia”. Translation: it’s pretty, but might be empty.

The Guardian didn’t hold back in early reactions, calling it a “mind-bendingly dull sci-fi”, “a pointless threequel” and, my personal favorite, “more a screensaver than a film”. When your $180 million movie gets compared to the background of Windows XP before release weekend, that’s not a great sign!

Jeff Bridges is back again, reportedly with a “Poundshop Jor-El” vibe, brutal but fair. And Jared Leto’s Ares? Critics say his performance is “unremittingly awful”. That’s polite talk for “we’re already worried”.

Honestly, Leto has a talent for picking roles that make you wonder if he’s trolling Hollywood!

Competition: Small Fish, Same Weekend

The good news for Tron: Ares is that its competition is weak.

Roofman, a $19 million dramedy starring Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst, might pull $8–12 million. Critics actually like it — 84% on Rotten Tomatoes — which is wild considering it’s about a thief hiding in a Toys “R” Us.

Then there’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, a musical remake nobody asked for, limping into theaters with a projected $1.5–3 million. It’s set in an Argentinian prison and might make less money than a YouTuber boxing match.

So yeah, Tron: Ares will probably “win the weekend” but that’s like being the tallest kid in kindergarten.

Final Thoughts: Nostalgia Has Limits

Look, I love a shiny sci-fi world as much as the next person. But Tron feels like a franchise Disney keeps alive out of corporate guilt. The visuals will stun. The story might snooze.

It’s shaping up to be the cinematic equivalent of an LED light strip, cool at first glance, but once it’s on, you realize it doesn’t actually do anything.

If Tron: Ares hits that $95 million opening, it’ll look fine on headlines. But under the neon glow, there’s the same problem as always: no one asked for this movie, and Disney made it anyway.

Would I watch it? probably, but I’d also bring caffeine, and maybe a second screen, because if the early reviews are right, I might need something else to look at halfway through!