Disney’s third “Tron” movie has just found its chief programmer, as TheWrap has confirmed that “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” filmmaker Joachim Rønning has joined the project.
The director has a longstanding history with the studio, having already helmed “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and the upcoming “Young Woman and the Sea,” starring Daisy Ridley.
Filming for the third “Tron” is set to begin this summer. Jared Leto was attached to play the title character in 2020 and remains so, as does writer Jesse Wigutow. The story for “Tron: Ares” is set after the events of 2010’s “Tron: Legacy.” (Leto was also set to co-produce.) Garth Davis, director of “Lion” and “Mary Magdalene,” was previously attached to direct.
What makes the story is that Ares was a character that was meant to be introduced in the actual, proper sequel to “Tron Legacy” that was going to be directed by Joseph Kosinski in the fall of 2015. (Sets had already been built in Vancouver.) Disney abruptly pulled the plug on the project, which would have once again starred Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde and was said to be about what would happen if the “Tron” world entered our own. (It’s been described as almost having a Marvel Cinematic Universe feel.) But it was Wigutow who wrote the script to this version of the movie that was set to film/ultimately canceled in 2015.
Disney also wanted French electronic duo Daft Punk to return, but they broke up in 2021, although one idea that had been floated was to compose the score out of preexisting bits of music that didn’t make it into “Tron: Legacy.”
Clearly there is still a desire to return to the Grid, the computerized world established in 1982’s original “Tron.” Disney was developing a Disney+ series to be written and show-run by John Ridley, but like the sequel the show was abruptly canceled. Still, interest has persisted in the years since “Tron: Legacy,” with the soundtrack regularly being reissued (and just as quickly selling out) and a pair of theme park attractions based on the 2010 movie opening: Tron Lightcycle Power Run in Shanghai (which opened in 2016) and Tron Lightcycle / Run in Walt Disney World (opening in April).
Deadline first reported the news.
