“Tron: Ares” may’ve underperformed at the box office, but its star Jeff Bridges made it clear he isn’t ready to write off the film as a flop.
The actor — who reprised his iconic character of Kevin Flynn for the third movie in the “Tron” franchise — was asked about the film’s poor performance in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, where he noted it was “interesting” to see the movie being labeled a failure right after its debut in theaters.
“It’s interesting, though, how movies are received at opening weekend,” he told the outlet. “I remember ‘Heaven’s Gate’ was considered, you know, very disappointing or a flop, but nowadays it’s considered kind of a masterpiece.”
As Bridges went on, he highlighted how the 1980s Western was set to get a director’s cut screening in November — and that many people were planning to attend.
“So it’s interesting how things can grow on you,” Bridges noted, seemingly hinting at “Tron: Ares.” “Even as an individual, often, I have not liked a movie. And then a couple weeks or months later, I’ll see it again. I’ll say, ‘What was I thinking?’”
Bridges then channeled another one of his legacy characters: “As the Dude [from ‘The Big Lebowski’] would say, ‘That’s just like, your opinion, man.’”
The Oscar winner’s comments come after “Tron: Ares” notably only brought in $33.5 million domestic/$60 million global during its opening weekend earlier this month. Since then, those numbers have grown to over nearly $125 million worldwide, which pales in comparison to the film’s reported $180 million budget.
Yet, as Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock previously told TheWrap, the third film was likely a hard sell to begin with, given it was “hard to peg” the “mass appeal” for the movie.
He added: “It’s not as brainy as the past films and tries to appeal to the multiplex masses, but there just isn’t anything there that immediately tells audiences there’s something they haven’t seen before.”
In addition to Bridges, “Tron: Ares” starred Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith and Hasan Minhaj.
