Despite not performing well in theaters, the new movie Tron: Ares has made a strong debut on a major chart. This third installment in the Tron series tells the story of an artificial intelligence entering the real world. The film, directed by Joachim Rønning, stars Jeff Bridges, who returns to the franchise, alongside Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Greta Lee, and Jodie Turner-Smith.
According to Box Office Mojo, Tron: Ares has earned $125.4 million worldwide. Of that, $65.1 million came from theaters in the United States, and $60.3 million from international theaters. However, the film hasn’t yet made back its $180 million production budget – the highest of any film in the series (without considering inflation).
With its current earnings, Tron: Ares is the 27th film this year to reach over $125 million globally. It’s already outperformed several highly anticipated 2025 releases, including Smurfs ($120.8 million), Karate Kid: Legends ($117 million), The Accountant 2 ($103.2 million), The Naked Gun ($102.1 million), Black Phone 2 ($86.6 million), and The Monkey ($68.9 million).
Sci-fi movies typically need to make two and a half times their production cost in theaters to be profitable, meaning this film might need to earn around $450 million just to break even. Unfortunately, current predictions suggest that Tron: Ares, scheduled for release in 2025, may not even reach $180 million in total earnings.
It’s unlikely Tron: Ares could have made back its money already. To have broken even at this point, the film would have needed a budget of $50 million or less. That’s a surprisingly low amount for a big-budget effects-driven movie – it’s more in line with the costs of recent biographical films like The Smashing Machine and Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.
It’s highly unlikely the movie could have succeeded as well as it did with its current qualities. Although the budget could have been lower, it was actually a safer investment than 2010’s Tron: Legacy, which cost $170 million (equivalent to $251.9 million today when accounting for inflation).
Honestly, the studio only greenlit this new movie because the last one, Legacy, was a huge hit! It made over $400 million at the box office, so they’re hoping to strike gold again. As a movie fan, I get it – numbers talk, and Legacy‘s success basically paved the way for this sequel.
I’m worried about the future of a potential Tron: Ares sequel. Even though the movie might make some money from video on demand, TV, Blu-rays, and streaming, its performance in theaters hasn’t been great. Honestly, it makes me doubt Disney will actually make the sequel they hinted at in the ending.
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2025-11-01 16:48