“Tron: Legacy” arrived with a lot of hype in 2010 — sequel to a cult ’80s movie! CGI-ed Jeff Bridges! score by Daft Punk! — but it wasn’t very good. Reviews were mixed, and while the film, which cost $170 million, did decently at the box office with $400 million worldwide, it didn’t leave many hankering for a sequel. But because it is a brand and is still worth keeping alive, Disney started development on the sequel, “Tron: Ascension,” but ultimately scrapped it following the disappointment of “Tomorrowland.” Essentially, they didn’t want to take another expensive risk on anything unless it was sure to succeed. Still, you might be wondering what could’ve been.
Well, director Joseph Kosinski was more than happy to tell Collider just that. While he admits the the project is now in “cryogenic freeze,” he explains that’s because Disney has a hit machine at the moment with the twin titans of Marvel and Lucasfilm (which they didn’t have circa ‘Legacy’) that doesn’t need any help. And as for the ‘Legacy’ follow-up, it’s not short on ambition, even if may never seen the light of a multiplex.
READ MORE: Review: ‘Tron: Legacy’ Is A Sonic & Visual Delight, But Lacks Soul, Narratively Empty
“The movie was called, ‘TRON: Ascension,’ I think that’s out there. I think we got the script to about 80%. We were in good shape. We were probably eight or nine months out, which is still a good amount of distance from being ready to shoot it, but I think the script was in good shape. What I’m excited about is the concept, which is an invasion movie from inside the machine coming out as opposed to one we’ve usually seen,” Koskinski said. “So we hinted at that at the end of Legacy with Quorra coming out, but the idea for ‘Ascension’ was a movie that was, the first act was in the real world, the second act was in the world of TRON, or multiple worlds of TRON, and the third act was totally in the real world. And I think that really opens up, blows open the concept of TRON in a way that would be thrilling to see on screen. But there’s also a really interesting character study in Quorra and a ‘Stranger in a Strange Land,’ trying to figure out where she belongs having lived in the real world for a few years, and where does she fit in.”
However, with the characters from TRON stepping out of the grid, don’t expect them to have enhanced abilities or anything like that.
“I don’t see them having superpowers. I don’t see them being able to shoot lasers from their eyes or do what I would consider to be a superhero-type movie. But in her DNA itself, her being the first digital-human hybrid, there’s something in her being that allows objects from inside the Grid to exist in the real world and makes them permanent, so that was the idea,” he added. “So I think the idea is strong, it’s just a matter of the right time and the right place and the stars aligning as they have to do for movies.”
Well, I’m not going to hold my breath that this happens, but it’s nonetheless pretty interesting. Thoughts? Weigh in below.