Perhaps it’s a little early to discuss the level of coverage arcades might get out of movies that won’t be hitting the silver screen for a few more years yet but there are two movies of recent discussion that have give arcades a bit of attention, not just in their respective films but also in the extensive marketing campaigns for each. With both of these movies slated to get some sequels, we may as well begin some discussion along those lines now.
If you haven’t seen the first iterations of these movies then perhaps some of what I will get into below is spoilerish so be warned.
First up, the announcement that TRON 3 is in the works as revealed by The Hollywood Reporter. Of course where they are just in the writing stages they are a ways off but there is something that baffles me a little when there has been talk of a Legacy sequel. The article states that the movie grossed over $400 million worldwide which was considered “lukewarm performance”. It made more money that the JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot in 2009 ($385 million) yet I’ve not read that stipulation given to that film and Star Trek is certainly a much bigger franchise than Tron ever has been. Yes Legacy did cost more to do and it came in the age of post-AVATAR hype where earnings of that have to be the measuring stick and Star Trek was released before that was the case. But the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness is well on the way hitting theaters next year. I’m not exactly sure why the question should have been up in the air about a follow-up on Tron Legacy when it was pretty much hitting the same level of success as Star Trek did.
Anyways, I am not a Hollywood executive so I am no expert on these sort of things. Either way, TRON 3 is moving along but we will have to wait and see if it gets out of the writing phase and at least into the pre-production phase. If it does, the article states that the same director will be helming it this time, Joseph Kosinski who debuted as a director with Legacy and has most recently served as the writer and director of the upcoming sci-fi movie Oblivion starring Tom Cruise. There had been talk of Mr. Kosinski directing The Black Hole reboot but there hasn’t been any news about that in recent memory so I wonder if it has been shelved for the time being. Like Tron I also watched The Black Hole fairly often as a kid as the blasting of robots and the Cygnus getting slammed by a meteor shower never got old for me, despite the always debated ending.
This of course gives us an opportunity to be an armchair quarterback, I’d certainly be interested in hearing your thoughts below of what you would like to see them do with in a TRON 3 world. Often I have heard that everyone wants to see all of the modern stuff we have these days like smartphones and internet which is understandable although I think they should still try and go beyond that, thinking ahead and such. Personally I think it should be more colorful, like the originals and they have done some of that with TRON Uprising as well – I like the look of the latter from the episodes I have seen. It certainly should show a lot more TRON as the “reveal” of Rinzler as Tron in Legacy was truly lame, if you want to even call it a reveal. Those were two big issues I had with it but I’m not directing anything so we’ll just have to wait and see. Seeing Sam restore Flynns would be a really nice touch that I would like to see as well, which would be a fitting tribute to his father in addition to restoring Encom. I’m sure that Quorra being in the real world will have some consequences that will have to be dealt with but I wonder if they will follow-up on the hints dropped in the easter eggs from the TRON Legacy DVD/Blu-Ray of Dillinger being behind of some things that are going on. This also means another chance at seeing either an arcade or pinball machine based upon Tron again, which is something to look forward to in my book.
Second up is the more recent arcade-related film, Wreck-It Ralph. That is one that has just barely surpassed its budget domestically, but has passed it when foreign markets are brought into account and they are starting to throw some ideas around for that too according to ScreenRant.com. I’m not sure where they would take it really, a guess is probably along the lines of the Toy story movies where games are moved and the characters have to deal with changes of being in a different arcade or perhaps Fix-It Felix Jr. ending up in a personal collection of some older games in a home. Again, where its just in the idea stage its going to be a few years before we start seeing trailers and such for it but also what would you like to see in a Wreck-It Ralph sequel?
As much as I love the TRON franchise, I’m not too sure I want to see it getting milked after such a long dry spell. Legacy was a fantastic follow-up, but I doubt a third movie could continue as gracefully as the second. However, if it were to continue I would like to see much of what you outlined – Quorra’s influence off the grid, Sam taking control on Encom, and Dillinger once again rising as the bad guy. But Tron doesn’t feel like Tron if Jeff Bridges isn’t in it again. His “death” was beautiful in Legacy, so I don’t necessarily want that to be invalidated, and I definitely don’t want more CG’d young Jeff Bridges. But I dunno… Just thinking out loud.
I’ve been wondering how it would be handled without Bridges. Although I imagine they would get him as the older self as a cameo in some regard. I understand what you mean by milking it, although I think that TRON Uprising, from the few episodes I have seen, is doing a good job at fleshing out the Legacy side of the Tron universe.
As long as Daft Punk is doing the music and it looks phenomenal, ill be happy 🙂
BRING IT ON!! I loved wreck-it-ralph and tron!