TRON: Legacy

[Spider-Dan]

I wouldn't say I am a big fan of the original TRON movie itself; the storyline is pretty weak and (outside of Jeff Bridges) the acting is pretty stiff.  Nevertheless, the movie was a huge leap forward in movie technology, many of the components of it (discs, light cycles, the general art design) are iconic to sci-fi, and the arcade game was a classic.  So when I saw the test footage for "TR2N" from the 2008 Comic-Con, I was immediately juiced.  But I'm a nerd.

After the incredible reaction to that test footage, Disney greenlighted a sequel to TRON, 28 years after the original.  And to their credit, Disney has pulled an all-out media blitz to promote the movie, hoping that it will be a four-quadrant film (young, older, male, and female).

I saw the midnight viewing on Thursday night/Friday morning, and I definitely wasn't disappointed; I felt the movie was better than the first TRON in every aspect save possibly originality (TRON came up with a LOT of stuff out of nowhere).  One thing's for sure: Legacy is a freaking beautiful movie, and definitely has the feel of what TRON could have/should have been, with the right technology available.  I also really liked the soundtrack, but I'm already a Daft Punk fan, so that didn't take much effort.

Disney also appears to be positioning TRON to be a serious franchise; they are making theme park rides, a new TV series, and so on.  Part of the sci-fi geek in me screams "mass-market sellout," but hell, if there's a property that Disney is going to force down my throat, why not TRON?  So I'm down.

My questions to the reader are:

1) What did you think of the original TRON?

2) If you've seen TRON: Legacy, what did you think of it, both as a standalone movie and as a sequel?

3) How do you feel about Disney trying to turn TRON into a big franchise?

[bsmooth]

1. I loved Tron. It was so unique back then.
2. I think Legacy did a good job as a sequel. It could have been its own movie, although the guy playing hs son was very stiff.
3. I hate the mass marketing overkill, but that is what Disney has been doing for decades.

[Sunstroke]

My questions to the reader are:

1) What did you think of the original TRON?

2) If you've seen TRON: Legacy, what did you think of it, both as a standalone movie and as a sequel?

3) How do you feel about Disney trying to turn TRON into a big franchise?

1) I liked the original, but never saw it as being a great movie or anything. Definitely unique though...

2) I haven't seen Legacy yet, and will likely wait until it hits PPV or maybe even HBO/Showtime.

3) It makes complete sense... From a branding & marketing standpoint, it rings most of the little bells. The word "Tron" is monosyllabic, has a soft vowel and is already part of the English vernacular, so memory retention value is through the roof. It's in the right media and genre (movie, sci-fi) to not only allow for spinning off into other visual-based merchandising media like print, toys & figurines...and as Spidey noted, theme park rides, et al. Spidey also pointed out the "four-quadrant" potential, so what you end up with is...
     * a brand that's easy to remember
     * a concept that's easy to merchandise
     * and a market wider than Oprah after a 6-hour Golden Corral binge

It would have surprised me if they "didn't" aggressively market this particular property...

[Spider-Dan]

Well, given that they let TRON sit on the shelf for nearly 30 years, it was a bit of a surprise how hard they charged out of the gate.

It looks like Disney is feeling a bit of pressure from the Star Wars/Marvel/Harry Potter/etc. film franchises, and they don't really have anything to compete with them (outside of maybe the Pixar stuff as a whole).  They kind of tried Narnia, but it isn't really taking.  So they brought back Pirates of the Caribbean and are also pushing TRON.