In early October, Disney held the glitzy world premiere of “Tron: Ares,” the latest in their technologically envelope-pushing series, in Hollywood. The massive event included a red carpet with activations from Tesla and a real-life light-cycle, the signature vehicle from the franchise, that you could climb on top of.
The cast was there, as was the movie’s director Joachim Rønning, and even Nine Inch Nails composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross made the trek. But it was actor Jared Leto — the marquee star of “Tron: Ares” — who made the most striking impression, as he took the stage after Rønning’s introduction to speak about what an amazing experience he’d had on the Disney film.
It was an odd sight. Here he was introducing a $180 million Hollywood movie, from one of the remaining legacy studios, even though the actor, who this year was the subject of some pretty severe sexual misconduct allegations, hasn’t had a hit movie in nearly a decade, when he played the Joker in David Ayer’s divisive 2016 super-villain saga “Suicide Squad.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, “Tron: Ares” flopped at the box office on opening weekend, bringing in just $33.5 million — lower than the opening gross of “Tron: Legacy” 15 years ago. That’s par for the course with Leto now.
“Tron: Ares” is just the latest in a string of disappointments from the Oscar-winning actor, whose relatively bare filmography over the last decade contains pricey and embarrassing flops like “Morbius” and little-seen curios, where he’s often hiding under layers of make-up or cumbersome prosthetics. It’s enough to question what’s next for a star who hasn’t basked in critical praise for years.
Perhaps “Tron: Ares” was the last gasp. Several agents who spoke to TheWrap said studios are no longer banking on the star, and indicated his time leading franchises or big-budget films is over.
Moreover, the two projects he previously had on his upcoming docket – the Barry Levinson JFK thriller “Assassination” and “Lunik Heist,” from “Soul” co-director Kemp Powers, are not moving forward.
One agent pointed out that Leto has been attached to “Tron: Ares” since before “Morbius” bombed — he boarded the project in 2017 and is a credited producer on the final film — and has secured few additional projects in the ensuing time. Indeed, that 2022 Sony Marvel movie was one of Leto’s biggest busts so far, grossing just $168 million worldwide against a budget of $83 million.
“He’s had ‘Tron: Ares’ for many years. I think even before ‘Morbius’ – that’s how long it took to develop and make ‘Tron: Ares,’” the agent said. “So in that context, what studios are banking on him since 2021?”
Of “Masters of the Universe,” a big budget fantasy film due next year from Amazon MGM in which he plays the villainous Skeletor, the agent said: “Supporting role where he’s unrecognizable. What lead role, let alone above the title role, has Leto gotten since 2021?”
A representative for Leto did not respond to a request for comment.
Humble beginnings
Leto rose to prominence in the mid-1990s on ABC drama series “My So-Called Life.” The show, created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick, only lasted a single season but was lauded for its ability to wrestle with serious social issues of the day, like homophobia and sexual assault. And Leto, as Jordan Catalano, the object of affection for main character Angela Chase (played by Claire Danes), certainly made an impression. With his piercing blue eyes and chiseled cheekbones, he was everybody’s crush.
After the show was canceled, Leto toggled between more commercial fare (like 1998’s “Urban Legend,” part of the post-“Scream” teen slasher revival of the period) and artier material (he has a small role in Terence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line,” also in 1998, and had standout supporting roles in David Fincher’s “Fight Club” and Mary Harron’s “American Psycho” in 1999 and 2000, respectively). By 2000, Darren Aronofsky had cast him as the lead in his drug drama “Requiem for a Dream.” In 2002, he re-teamed with Fincher for the Hitchcockian “Panic Room” and in 2004 had a smaller role in Oliver Stone’s historic epic “Alexander” as Hephaestion, a general who led Alexander the Great’s army.
But Leto never led a bona fide box office hit, instead being drawn to roles like playing Mark David Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon, in 2007’s “Chapter 27,” which made less than $200,000. Ever heard of 2006’s “Lonely Hearts?” What about 2009’s “Mr. Nobody”?
At the same time, Leto’s rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars — for which he serves as frontman, lead singer, guitar player, etc. — started to take off with the release of its second album “A Beautiful Lie” in 2005, which was certified platinum. As he focused on music, he faded away from the big screen.
That is, until “Dallas Buyers Club” rolled around. The 2013 Focus Features indie ended up being a smash, making more than $55 million on a budget of just $5 million, and Leto, as a transgender AIDS patient, was the film’s beating heart. While the performance was hotly debated and the conversation around it has grown more contentious in the years that followed, it was enough to win him the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, with his co-star Matthew McConaughey taking home Best Actor.
After that, the world was Leto’s.
Post-Oscar fatigue
Following the success of “Dallas Buyers Club,” he made decisions that any actor on the ascent probably would make – he signed up to be the Joker in 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” then thought of as a foundational pillar of a shared, DC Comics-based universe in the style of Marvel’s MCU. But the movie, while a financial hit (it made nearly $750 million worldwide), weathered a particularly difficult production that eventually saw Warner Bros. wrestle away control from the film’s director David Ayer. Leto’s performance, as a heavily tattooed Clown Prince of Crime, was one of the movie’s more contentious elements, and much of his performance wound up on the cutting room floor while his fellow actors complained about his method acting antics on set.
The supposed franchise starter was more of a one-and-done.
“Blade Runner 2049” followed a year later, in 2017. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, it served as a sequel to Ridley Scott’s original masterpiece, and followed a new detective (Ryan Gosling) through a snowy futuristic landscape. Leto played Niander Wallace, the CEO of the Wallace Corporation, who in the sequel serves as the successor to the Tyrell Corporation from the first film. The movie was brilliant and critically well received but didn’t drum up any business, earning just $276 million worldwide on a budget estimated to be around $185 million. Plans for another sequel were quietly shuttered although a new television series set in the world of “Blade Runner” will arrive on Amazon’s Prime Video next year.
The next few years would be even drearier – Leto appeared in “The Outsider,” a thriller that was shot years before and eventually wound up on Netflix in 2018, and co-starred in “The Little Things,” a ’90s-style detective movie that was simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max as part of Project Popcorn in 2021. (It made $30 million on a budget of $30 million.) And when Zack Snyder was expanding his “Justice League” for a direct-to-HBO Max extended cut, Leto shot new footage as Joker for a single scene.
In 2021, Leto appeared in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” as Paolo Gucci under heavy prosthetics. Initially tipped as a potential Oscar contender, it garnered a sole nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling and made $153 million globally, which would have been a solid number if the movie hadn’t cost a reported $75 million.
The next year saw the release of the Leto-led “Morbius,” based on the Spider-Man villain — at long last, Leto’s chance to lead his own superhero franchise. Roasted by critics (it has a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes), the film brought in $167.5 million on a budget reportedly north of $83 million. It received five Golden Raspberry Awards nominations (taking home the prize for Worst Picture) and along with last year’s “Kraven the Hunter” put a nail in the coffin of Sony’s Marvel franchise expansion plans.
Then in 2023, Leto had a bit part in Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” as the Hatbox Ghost, a malevolent spirit who haunts the mansion and a fan-favorite character from the Disneyland attraction of the same name. But the CG-rendered character clouded Leto’s visage to more closely resemble the character from the ride — his star power, such that it was, was rendered moot. No matter, the $150 million Disney film flopped with $117.5 million worldwide.
Now what?
“Tron: Ares” came at a particularly fraught time for Leto.
Earlier in 2025, an expose by Air Mail entitled “The Cult of Leto” documented allegations of sexual misconduct by nine women. No charges have been filed and Leto’s representative denied them at the time.
Leto was crucial to getting “Tron: Ares” made — it was a true passion project for the actor, who helped revive the sequel with his attachment after, in 2015, production was suspended following the disappointing box office of Disney’s “Tomorrowland.” But that was then.
With the one-two punch of “Morbius” and “Tron: Ares,” not to mention the string of misses throughout the last decade, it seems that — in “Tron” terms — Leto might have finally reached the end of the line.
Umberto Gonzalez contributed reporting to this story.
