I know Tron: Legacy didn’t rock the world in ways that Disney clearly hoped it would, but that entire franchise holds a special place in my nerd-heart, and I’m all for a third film getting made.
Up until the recent rumorings, I thought that was a pretty distant possibility. After all, Legacy‘s box office returns barely broke even after marketing and the theater cut, and both major spin-off properties (a video game and a TV series) failed to gain much traction. It looks like Disney is willing to give it a another go though, at least according to Vancouver website VanCityBuzz.
What’s Disney’s plan for the third film?
According to this unverified report, Disney is planning on shooting Tron 3 in Vancouver in the fall, with production set to begin on October 5. That means the film has been greenlit, despite the fact that we haven’t heard any word on the script in quite some time.
Could they be moving forward without a script?
It’s certainly a possibility, as weird as that seems. It’s not unheard of for big budget blockbusters to begin production without a completed screenplay. Iron Man for example was shot with just an outline, with the script coming in piece by piece during filming.
That seems sketchy. Who’s coming back for the sequel?
So far (and again, according to this one report), only Garrett Hedlund has been confirmed to be a part of the cast. Hedlund played Sam Flynn in Tron: Legacy, the son of Jeff Bridges’ character from the first film. If a sequel is moving forward though, you have to imagine that Disney wants Olivia Wilde back as Quorra; as well as Cillian Murphy as Edward Dillinger Jr., who had one of the weirdest cameos in recent memory in the last installment.
So how likely is this rumor to be true?
It’s plausible. Tron: Legacy wasn’t a huge hit, but it did turn a profit after you factor in merchandising, and it’s a strong brand that Disney still utilizes regularly.
If a Tron sequel is shooting this year, Vancouver makes sense as well. Tron: Legacy was shot mainly in the city, and due to generous tax breaks and its status as a Los Angeles-esque production hub, a number of big Hollywood productions are heading to the city this year including possibly Deadpool and Star Trek 3.
Furthermore, the rumor has been substantiated by a number of sources, albeit all unverified ones. This random Twitter account broke the news a few days earlier than VanCityBuzz:
Tron 3 will film in Vancouver October 5th @olv #yvrshoots Only returning cast so far is Garrett Hedlund
— Lindsay B (@lemon_buzz) March 8, 2015
And this Reddit post offhandedly mentions it as fact almost a month before that.
Movie blog Slashfilm later independently verified the rumor with their own source, who added that Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski is involved.
Finally, the biggest piece of evidence is that last month, Oscar-winning composer Giorgio Moroder revealed that he and Skrillex were collaborating on a new Tron video game. We speculated then that it could tie into a larger Tron initiative that could include a third film. That seems like a real possibility now.
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