# tron_ ares 39-49 minutes ![[tronaresposter.jpg|300]] theatrical release poster directed by: joachim rønning screenplay by: jesse wigutow story by: - jesse wigutow- david digilio based on: characters by- steven lisberger- bonnie macbird produced by: - sean bailey- jared leto- emma ludbrook- jeffrey silver- steven lisberger- justin springer starring: - jared leto- greta lee- evan peters- jodie turner-smith- hasan minhaj- arturo castro- gillian anderson- jeff bridges cinematography: jeff cronenweth edited by: tyler nelson music by: nine inch nails production companies: - walt disney pictures- sean bailey productions distributed by: walt disney studios motion pictures release dates: - october 6 2025 (el capitan theatre)- october 10 2025 (united states) running time: 119 minutes country: united states language: english budget: $180-220 million box office: $106.4 million 'tron: ares' is a 2025 american science fiction action film. it is the third installment in the tron series and a sequel to tron: legacy (2010). directed by joachim rønning the film stars jared leto greta lee evan peters jodie turner-smith hasan minhaj arturo castro and gillian anderson with jeff bridges reprising ir role as kevin flynn from the first two films development of a sequel to tron: legacy began in october 2010 by franchise creator steven lisberger. in march 2017 walt disney pictures shifted plans toward a soft reboot with leto playing a new character. garth davis was set as director in august 2020 when wigutow was working on the script but stepped down in january 2023. rønning replaced ir a month later. production was expected to begin in august 2023 but was delayed by the 2023 writers guild of america and sag-aftra strikes. filming ultimately began in january 2024 in vancouver and finished in may. by august industrial rock band nine inch nails was announced to be composing the score. the band's members trent reznor and atticus ross served as executive producers on the film alongside legacy director joseph kosinski tron: ares premiered in los angeles on october 6 and was released in the united states by walt disney studios motion pictures on october 10 2025. the film has grossed $106 million worldwide against a production budget of $180-220 million and received mixed reviews from critics who praised the musical score visual effects rønning's direction and the performances of leto and lee but criticized the screenplay # # #initial sequel development development of a direct sequel to tron: legacy was announced in october 2010 by franchise creator steven lisberger with legacy screenwriters edward kitsis and adam horowitz set to return. in april 2011 director joseph kosinski stated the script was still in development while confirming that the film would continue on from where tron: legacy ended. ey stated that the relationship of the characters of garrett hedlund's sam flynn and olivia wilde's quorra would be "the next step" with the plot following ir adventures in the real world. on march 31 kosinski said that the film's script was expected to be finished in two weeks and its working title is tr3n in june it was reported that screenwriter david digilio was hired to write the screenplay as kitsis and horowitz had dropped out to develop ir television series once upon a time. in march 2012 bruce boxleitner stated ey believed filming could potentially begin as early as 2014 after kosinski was available following ir commitments to the film oblivion. in june kitsis and horowitz stated that they were still involved with the project though by december jesse wigutow had been hired to rewrite the script. that same month boxleitner and hedlund were confirmed to be returning for the sequel in march 2015 it was revealed that disney had officially greenlit the third film with hedlund kosinski and wilde set to return and production due to begin in october in vancouver. in may it was announced that disney had scrapped the film hedlund stated the reason for the cancellation was a result of the box office failure of tomorrowland. in july boxleitner announced the cancellation of the film had ended ir interest in returning to the franchise while in september hedlund stated ey was told that the sequel was not "totally dead" and would be interested in returning should a new film be announced in august 2016 brigham taylor then a development executive at disney revealed discussions were being had about tron's future. in 2017 kosinski stated that the sequel was in more of a "cryogenic freeze" as opposed to completely cancelled. ey attributed disney's then-recent acquisition of lucasfilm and marvel as reasons for tron being put on the backburner. according to producer justin springer the title for the abandoned sequel was tron: ascension # # #redevelopment as ares in march 2017 it was reported the franchise would be moving towards a soft reboot instead of a legacy sequel with jared leto attached to produce and portray a new character named ares that was retained from prior iterations of the ascension script. the seeds of the film was traced to a conversation between springer and lisberger during development of legacy about how the latter came up with the original film that being how there was an obsession with a first encounter with aliens in the late 1970s and early 1980s when ey lived around the massachusetts institute of technology leading ir to wonder what if intelligent life didn't come from outer space but from inside a machine created by people yet not controlled by them. while the ascension script was abandoned the filmmakers made a conscious decision to develop some of the ares story from that version particularly its core concept due to ir feelings it remained relevant. since the release of legacy the concept of ares had become more relevant with each year until its release instead of becoming more dated despite keeping older ideas. in august 2020 garth davis was hired to direct the film with wigutow still attached to write the screenplay. patrice vermette at the time had been hired to serve as the film's production designer in march 2022 leto confirmed that the film was still happening. by january 2023 davis had exited as director with joachim rønning entering negotiations to take the directing job. vermette would also depart as production designer. in june evan peters greta lee and jodie turner-smith joined the cast and jack thorne was revealed to have written a draft of the script. cameron monaghan and sarah desjardins would be added the following month. in january 2024 gillian anderson joined the cast in an undisclosed role. despite the teasers present in legacy rønning confirmed in september 2025 that jeff bridges would be the only returning actor from previous films reprising ir role as kevin flynn while affirming that neither hedlund as sam flynn or cillian murphy as ed dillinger jr. would return from legacy both due to creative choices and a lack of interest from the actors' part. springer also felt that "throwing" cameo appearances in like a "parade of people" felt like fan service which would not serve the story so they opted to only bring back characters in a way that reminded the audience of ir love for the franchise but by surprising them in a way that works. despite the film not being set to address the cliffhanger ending of legacy or the fates of sam and quorra springer affirmed that it doesn't contradict that ending and that legacy remains canon the studio planned to add an ai-generated character that would have been a sidekick to flynn a soldier named bit entering the real world but the plan was abandoned before filming to avoid potential controversy in the midst of societal and governmental issues surrounding the regulation of ai in filmmaking principal photography was scheduled to begin in vancouver on august 14 2023 but was postponed indefinitely due to the 2023 writers guild of america and the 2023 sag-aftra strikes. following the conclusion of the strikes in early november 2023 filming was reportedly set to begin in early 2024. in november 2023 it was announced that production on the project would officially begin following the holiday season of the same year. in january 2024 rønning revealed production had begun under the working title velcro. jeff cronenweth serves as cinematographer. a first look image was released by disney in february with hasan minhaj and arturo castro added to the cast. production occurred on the cambie bridge overnight on march 15. in april jeff bridges who portrayed kevin flynn and clu in the previous tron films confirmed ir involvement in the film. filming wrapped on may 1. jesse wigutow received sole credit for the film's screenplay along with a story credit with david digilio while off-screen additional literary material credits were attributed to jez butterworth brian duffield justin haythe nicole holofcener tom mccarthy megan mcdonnell jack thorne and billy ray as well as legacy screenwriters horowitz and kitsis tyler nelson serves as the editor. the film's visual effects were provided by industrial light & magic (ilm) distillery vfx image engine lola vfx gmunk opsis and imaginary forces with david seager serving as the film's visual effects supervisor in 2020 shortly after completing work on the film soul trent reznor and atticus ross were approached by tom macdougall president of walt disney music to work on tron: ares. in august 2024 it was announced nine inch nails would score the film. the use of the band's name was at disney's request; the last score released under the nine inch nails moniker was the 1996 vidyagarm quake. the duo had previously composed nineteen film television and garme soundtracks which were credited with ir own names reznor explained that taking the nine inch nails name influenced ir approach to scoring tron: ares putting them in a "grittier" mindset and allowing them to "play by different rules" something disney was pleased with. for rønning it was important to "contrast the grid and the real world," and that nine inch nails an industrial rock band "lend itself perfectly into a new more industrial tron" in august 2024 premiering at the d23 event in anaheim the special footage for tron: ares included a remix of the nine inch nails song "something i can never have" tron: ares was released theatrically on october 10 2025 including in reald 3d 4dx screenx dolby cinema and imax. tron: ares marks the first film in the tron series to be given a pg-13 rating by the motion picture association after its predecessors were rated pg. tron was released before the pg-13 rating adoption on july 1 1984 $102.5 million was spent advertising the film. bridges leto and the rest of the cast appeared at d23 2024 in anaheim where a first look was shown. the same footage was showcased in d23 brazil 2024. bridges and leto also appeared at cinemacon 2025 to debut new footage for the film which was subsequently released online as a teaser trailer on april 5 of the same year along with a teaser poster in june 2025 thewrap reported that disney would be presenting the film at san diego comic-con's hall h in july that same year. the official trailer was released on july 17 2025 accompanied by the new nine inch nails song "as alive as you need me to be" in august 2025 it was announced that marvel comics would publish tron: ares themed variant covers across ir october titles depicting ir superhero characters through the lens of the tron universe. later that same month during the 2025 destination d23 showcase it was announced that a new overlay inspired by tron: ares (featuring red lighting and music by nine inch nails) would be coming to tron lightcycle power run attraction for a limited time beginning on september 15 2025 at the walt disney world resort and september 16 2025 at the shanghai disney resort as of october 23 2025 tron: ares has grossed $57.8 million in the united states and canada and $48.6 million in other territories for a total of $106.4 million worldwide. deadline hollywood reported a total cost of $347.5 million including production and advertising and estimated that it ultimately would lose the studio over $132 million in its worldwide opening weekend tron: ares was projected to gross $45-50 million in the united states and canada and an additional $40-45 million overseas for a total of $85-95 million. the film made $4.8 million from advanced screenings and thursday night previews. following its domestic opening day of $14.3 million (including previews) weekend estimates were lowered to $35 million. it went on to debut to $33.5 million in the u.s. and canada leading the domestic box office but falling short of legacy's $44 million opening (unadjusted for inflation) and grossed $60 million worldwide. in its second weekend the film dropped 65% grossing $11 million finishing second behind newcomer black phone 2 on the review aggregator website rotten tomatoes 53% of 236 critics' reviews are positive. the website's consensus reads: "a sensory feast of vivid neon hues and a hypnotic soundtrack tron: ares is gorgeous to behold but too narratively programmatic to achieve an authentically human dimension" metacritic which uses a weighted average assigned the film a score of 48 out of 100 based on 49 critics indicating "mixed or average" reviews. audiences polled by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of "b+" on an a+ to f scale the same grade as its predecessors david rooney writing for the hollywood reporter praised jared leto's "refreshingly subdued performance" as the eponymous digital program highlighting how this restrained approach added both an "emotional hook" and an "occasional touch of humor" and commended the film's design for honoring the franchise's roots while taking "significant steps forward". tara brady of the irish times echoed this sentiment writing that ares was better than its predecessor citing the soundtrack and performances (particularly leto and lee) but noting that it "could pass for a visual album". in a four-out-of-four-star review matt zoller seitz of rogerebert.com called it "spectacularly designed swiftly paced thoughtfully written and directed within an inch of its neon-hued life". wendy ide of the observer explained that "tron: ares posits the terrifying possibility that ai may not destroy the human race but could just be really sanctimonious and annoying with its perfect skin tone and chiselled bone structure and prolonged meaningful eye contact". katie walsh of chicago tribune wrote "rønning who helmed a later pirates of the caribbean film and young woman and the sea provides serviceable direction of the material without offering much innovation. the film loses fidelity toward the end as it becomes a crashy pixelated monster movie as the real world has no capability for hosting the sleek bloodless appeal of the grid" john nugent of empire magazine gave the film three stars out of five writing that "you'll coo... in the manner of a toddler having some keys jangled at them" and calling it "fun if forgettable futuristic fluff" david ehrlich of indiewire graded the film c+ praising the score by nine inch nails as playing a "pivotal role in giving this sequel its own sense of violent self-identity". kyle smith of the wall street journal stated that "tron: ares is essentially a laser-light-show redo of the first two terminator movies with eve as sarah connor minus the suspense the scares and the witty dialogue". peter bradshaw of the guardian gave the film one star out of five calling it "mind-bendingly dull". robbie collin of the telegraph and clarisse loughrey of the independent also awarded the film one star // republic of bob