Disney’s much-anticipated Tron: Ares has finally hit theaters, but the return to the Grid isn’t generating the electric buzz the studio might have hoped for. Released on October 10, 2025, the film marks the third installment in the iconic sci-fi franchise, arriving 15 years after Tron: Legacy and more than four decades after the original. Despite a hefty production budget of $180 million and a marketing blitz that included neon stunts at San Diego Comic-Con and even a Nine Inch Nails concert at the premiere, Tron: Ares is off to a somewhat muted start at the domestic box office.
According to Collider and Deadline, Tron: Ares grossed approximately $14 million on its opening day, including nearly $5 million from Thursday previews that began as early as 2 p.m. Disney had hoped that the film would spark a fall box office surge, but projections for the first three-day weekend now hover between $35 million and $37 million—just shy of the $40 million mark that would have signaled a more robust debut. For context, Tron: Legacy opened to $44 million in its first weekend back in 2010, a figure that itself was seen as underwhelming at the time given Disney’s expectations.
So, what’s changed in the last decade and a half? For starters, the moviegoing landscape is still feeling the aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic. As Deadline notes, “audience moviegoing habits have truly changed with consumers more than ever weighing their wallets against what’s worth the FOMO.” The rise of streaming, coupled with economic uncertainty and fierce competition from sporting events like the MLB playoffs and NFL games, has made it harder for even well-established franchises to draw crowds to theaters.
Directed by Joachim Rønning—whose previous Disney credits include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil—Tron: Ares attempts to reboot the series for a new generation. Unlike its predecessors, which were set almost entirely within a digital universe, this latest chapter is mostly grounded in the real world. The film brings back only Jeff Bridges from the original cast, with Jared Leto stepping into the lead role. Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, and Gillian Anderson round out the supporting ensemble.
Despite the star power and a fresh creative direction, Tron: Ares has received a mixed critical reception. The movie currently holds a 57% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus stating, “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.” However, audience reactions have been far more enthusiastic, as reflected in the film’s impressive 86% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and a B+ grade from CinemaScore—matching the mark earned by Tron: Legacy on its opening day.
“Jared Leto has been vigorously promoting the movie on his TikTok channel,” observed RelishMix, a media analytics firm cited by Deadline. Yet, Leto’s presence appears to be a double-edged sword. While Disney “disregarded that noise and boldly trotted him out at SDCC,” only 14% of opening weekend audiences said they bought tickets because of the actor. Instead, most viewers were drawn by the franchise itself (47%), its sci-fi appeal (41%), and the promise of “cool VFX” (33%).
Demographic data from Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak surveys suggests that the film’s audience skews heavily male (68%), with 52% of attendees aged 18-34 and a notable 25% over the age of 45—likely the core Gen X fans who grew up on the original. The movie also attracted a diverse crowd, with 49% Caucasian, 23% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, and 11% Asian American viewers. Premium Large Format (PLF) and IMAX screenings drove 55% of the weekend’s ticket sales, with Disney’s El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood topping the charts at $105,000 in receipts.
Internationally, Tron: Ares is expected to pull in around $80 million worldwide for its opening weekend. While this is a respectable figure, it falls short of the kind of global blockbuster numbers Disney has grown accustomed to with its other tentpole releases. The muted response echoes the performance of other recent sci-fi reboots, such as Blade Runner 2049 ($32.7 million opening) and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ($26.3 million opening). The original Tron itself was considered a bomb in 1982, grossing just $29 million in a summer dominated by E.T., but it eventually found cult status through home video and inspired the 2010 revival.
Social media buzz for Tron: Ares has also lagged behind comparable releases. RelishMix reported that the film’s reach across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter was 26% lower than other sci-fi movies, totaling 281 million—well behind titles like Dune: Part Two (575 million) and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (891 million). Some fans accused the story of recycling old ideas, likening it to “a Force Awakens-style soft reboot,” while others criticized its tone and visual execution, calling it “just a big dumb action movie.”
Still, there are glimmers of hope for Disney. The strong audience score and positive word-of-mouth, particularly among younger viewers, could give Tron: Ares legs in the coming weeks. The timing of its release over Indigenous People’s Day weekend, with 45% of K-12 schools and 22% of colleges closed on Monday, could also provide a modest boost to the box office.
Ultimately, Tron: Ares finds itself at a crossroads—caught between the nostalgia of its cult following and the realities of a rapidly evolving entertainment landscape. While it may not have redefined the franchise or the fall box office as Disney had hoped, it remains a visually dazzling entry that could yet find its audience as word spreads (and as more fans decide whether it’s worth the trip to the theater).
