When Tron: Legacy hit cinemas six years ago (!), the world finally got the sequel to the 80s classic that they deserved. A third film in the series was mooted for a while with Tron 2 helmer Joseph Kosinski coming back to direct it for Disney. We thought that the project was a long-time dead, but the filmmaker has been talking to Collider about it all, and it sounds far from being forgotten about.
Here’s what he had to say about the tone and plot of the film, and how far they got with it.
“The movie was called, ‘TRON: Ascension,’ I think that’s out there,” Kosinski confirmed to the site. “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. 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.”
Kosinski went into more detail about why the project was shelved. It sounds like the fact that we never got the film was potentially because of Disney’s acquisition of two major brands.
“I guess I can say that ‘TRON 3’ is in cryogenic freeze,” explained Kosinski. “So, it’s there. It’s not dead. It’s alive, but it’s sitting there, waiting for the right time to move forward. I mean, you have to remember that when we made ‘TRON: Legacy,’ Disney did not own Marvel. Disney did not own Lucasfilm…they own everything now. But this was before they owned everything, so from the studio point of view, they have a certain number of slots and a certain amount of money to make movies and if you can make a Star Wars spinoff or another Marvel movie, which are all doing incredibly well, a TRON movie, even though I think it would do very well, the question is: Would it do as well as one of those? That is more the reason we haven’t seen another TRON is that Disney stock is flushed with really successful properties right now. But that doesn’t mean we won’t see one at one point.”
An interesting read. Take a look at the original post over on Collider for more.
