Tron: Legacy

This article is about the film. For the soundtrack album, see Tron: Legacy (soundtrack).

Tron: Legacy
A man releasing a disc upwards into the air, embraced by a woman. A beam of light descends upon the disk. In the background is a futuristic city and spaceships.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoseph Kosinski
Screenplay by
Story by
Based on
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyClaudio Miranda
Edited byJames Haygood
Music byDaft Punk
Production
companies
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates
  • November 30, 2010 (2010-11-30) (Tokyo)
  • December 17, 2010 (2010-12-17) (United States)[3]
Running time
125 minutes[4]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$170 million[5][6]
Box office$400.1 million[6]

Tron: Legacy (stylized as TRON: Legacy) is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Joseph Kosinski from a screenplay by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, based on a story by Horowitz, Kitsis, Brian Klugman, and Lee Sternthal. It serves as a sequel to Tron (1982), whose director Steven Lisberger returned to co-produce. The cast includes Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their roles as Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley, respectively, as well as Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, James Frain, Beau Garrett, and Michael Sheen. The story follows Flynn's adult son Sam, who responds to a message from his long-lost father and is transported into a virtual reality called "the Grid", where Sam, his father, and the algorithm Quorra must stop the malevolent program Clu from invading the real world.

Interest in creating a sequel to Tron arose after the film garnered a cult following. After much speculation, Walt Disney Pictures began a concerted effort in 2005 to devise a sequel, with the hiring of Klugman and Sternthal as writers. Kosinski was recruited as director two years later. As he was not optimistic about Disney's The Matrix-esque approach to the film, Kosinski filmed a concept trailer, which he used to conceptualize the universe of Tron: Legacy and convince the studio to greenlight the film. Principal photography took place in Vancouver over 67 days, in and around the city's central business district. Most sequences were shot in 3D and ten companies were involved with the extensive visual effects work. Chroma keying and other techniques were used to allow more freedom in creating effects. Daft Punk composed the musical score, incorporating orchestral sounds with their trademark electronic music.[7]

Tron: Legacy premiered in Tokyo on November 30, 2010, and was released in the United States on December 17, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Disney vigorously promoted the film across multiple media platforms, including merchandising, consumer products, theme parks, and advertising. Upon its release, the film received mixed reviews from critics, who criticized the story and character development, but praised the performances of Bridges and Sheen, the visual effects, production design, and soundtrack. It was a commercial success, grossing $400 million during its worldwide theatrical run against a $170 million production budget. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing at the 83rd Academy Awards, but lost to Inception. Like its predecessor, Tron: Legacy has been described as a cult film. A standalone sequel, Tron: Ares, is scheduled to be released on October 10, 2025.[8][9]

  1. ^ "Tron: Legacy". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference variety was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Tron: Legacy". DubaiFilmFest.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  4. ^ Ivan-Zadeh, Larushka (December 16, 2010). "Tron: Legacy – The grid game that unfortunately lacks spark". Metro. Archived from the original on December 13, 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  5. ^ Fritz, Ben (December 19, 2010). "Box office: 'How Do You Know' flops; 'Tron' doesn't; and like the bear himself, 'Yogi' is soft [Updated]". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference BoxOfficeMojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference ComicCon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Tjarks, Jonathan (August 5, 2020). "'Tron: Legacy' Has a Cult Following for a Reason". The Ringer. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  9. ^ "Watch: How 'Tron: Legacy' Built its Legacy with Visual Feats". No Film School. June 15, 2017. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.