Tron: Legacy / The Next Day

[Ben]

They are, Dacey, they are.

This is the same technology that they used at the start of X3 to get McKellen and Stewart looking like younger versions of themselves. That didn't quite get away from a waxy look, but Benjamin Button a year or so later managed to make us all believe that Brad Pitt was 21 again, looking just as he did in Meet Joe Black and the like.

So when they announced - back when the story was revealed a year or so ago - that the opening scenes of Tron Legacy would feature Kevin Flynn in 1985, that's really when I started going gaga over the potential of this film, knowing that, although Flynn might age, Clu would basically remain the same, seeing as he's a program that wouldn't age.

That trailer you posted WAS awesome...I'm really trying NOT to get pumped up about this only to be disappointed, but it's hard. Everything about this film screams that - okay it's being made for commercial reasons - but everything screams that it's being done with integrety.

I'm just surprised, so far, that we haven't had the announcement yet for the first film on Blu-ray. Whatever else, they'll want to make sure newcomers are up to speed on the story...or maybe not. Maybe they don't want to put people off, so they may be holding a BD release back until the new film is ready to debut on disc. But at the same time I think it could much better on BD as opposed to the old VHS or DVDs that people will probably rent before they go, or see on TV as they inevitably show it in the run up to the release.

Akiyama...the chanting also sounds awesome. Sounds like the ending may well involve a gladitorial showdown between two certain characters...

[Randall]

I'm sure that Tron will be out on BD 1-2 months prior to the new film's theatrical debut. And it had better be a good disc, as I just sold my DVD set.

[Dan]

Akiyama...the chanting also sounds awesome. Sounds like the ending may well involve a gladitorial showdown between two certain characters...

Someone managed to get video of us doing the chants.

[Ben]

I'm sure that Tron will be out on BD 1-2 months prior to the new film's theatrical debut. And it had better be a good disc, as I just sold my DVD set.

That's what "worries" me...if the BD was to come out in, say, September/October, we'd have had an announcement by now. My guess is that they will rely on the current DVD and TV showings to bring people up to speed, and minimise "disappointment" or "offputting" people by not playing up the original film - a flop, remember - too much before they are wowed by the new one.

After that, they'll do a "see how it all began" campaign with the new one on disc, and probably bring out a rebate type offer for when you buy both films at the same time. That would also be pretty cool, and I think I'd prefer that, than to a lame rushed disc whose only new feature is a "sneak peek at the all new Tron Legacy movie"...!

But the original will be on BD soon enough, probably with all those 20th Anniversary extras intact, though it'll be interesting to see if the concept art for what was then Tron 2.0 remains, or if they snip out that from the documentary as "dated" or incorrect material. But the movie is sure to be stunning!

As for the Con audio session...that is just plain friggin' a-m-a-z-i-n-g if that ends up in the soundtrack. No doubt they will tweak and add their own tracks too, but as a basis that is just the coolest thing to know you're one of many videogame warriors shouting those words, and they way they organized that was very well done and lighthearted too. Excellent!

[Ben]

News from the other side of the screen: the original Tron is mid-way through an HD "upgrade" for later release on BD. So, it doesn't sound as if it's going to be announced for this year, and is more likely to make it tied into Legacy's disc debut - maybe as a set? - next spring.

Hopefully they don't tinker with things too much with an "upgrade" as opposed to a restoration/remaster, but I'd be pretty happy if they found a way to keep the original's intentions intact while helping the original effects along a little. Not as in changing them via Star Wars, but just smoothing out some matte lines and process shots.

[EricJ]

A cool new poster for Disney's Tron: Legacy has just been revealed over at Yahoo! Movies. The Disney sequel opens in theaters and IMAX this holiday season.

New (final?) Tron Legacy Poster:
http://www.impawards.com/2010/tron_legacy_ver11.html
Classic 1982 Tron poster:
http://www.impawards.com/1982/tron.html

...Just sayin'.
(Yep: They know what they're doing.)

[Ben]

Love the tagline on one of the 1982 alternates that calls the film "Tron: The Electronic Gladiator". Nice.

[droosan]

[Ben]

[Dacey]

Cool "modern" trailer for the original "Tron":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp2gGqgn3Fw

[Ben]

A couple of minor discrepancies aside, that TOTALLY ROCKS!

Would have been cool if they'd used the original prologue text as the on-screen "narration". In the current cut, they drop this from the front, but the version I have on VHS has this terrific opening text. The LaserDisc and DVD sets included it as a separate clip, but it was "silent". On the version I have, it's voiced by a deep rumbling voice that just sounds dangerous, and on the front of the film, just before the Tron logo forms, it's just very cool. I've never forgotten that text:

This is the story of two worlds, and the beings who inhabit them.
One of these is our world, the one we can see, and feel.
The world of the Users.
It lies on our side of the video screen.
The other, an electronic micro-civilization,
Lives and breathes, just beyond our grasp.
This is the world of the Programs.
Because we, the Users, have created this new world,
Part of us lives there too...
ON THE OTHER SIDE...OF THE SCREEN...


End of line.

[Dacey]

Final trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4RiUy23e9s

Totally awesome. A bit spoiler heavy, though.

[EricJ]

Final trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4RiUy23e9s

Totally awesome. A bit spoiler heavy, though.

It's the traditional "Just in case you couldn't understand the other ones" trailer that takes all the best plot descriptions from the other trailers, puts them in order, and adds SPOILER shots of the big climax--
Just on the off chance a 1% of the audience was still holding out at the 11th hour because the rest of the marketing looked too weird....

For those of us who do know the plot by now, it looks pretty darn cool.

[GeorgeC]

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/blog-post ... 1?page=0,1


Another view on Tron: Legacy....


Gads, it still makes my brain hurt to think that many people consider the original TRON a great film.

It wasn't even at least mediocre in my book... and that was back in 1982!

Again, I was about 1 of 10 that actually saw the film in theaters and among hundreds of thousands if not millions who played the arcade game spin-offs. The games were far more popular when it counted.

People are really rewriting the history of this thing...

We'll see how well the new film does come mid-December.

I'd predict "meh" business unless advance word is really good.

It's got to be outstanding because many people will think the new film is ripping off The Matrix!

*********


Sad to hear how the original artists and technicians from the original TRON have been treated by Disney now.

Honestly, what they accomplished in 1982 still looks remarkable.

The new film looks less like TRON (not enough of a classic videogame look) and more like Rollerball with LED's.

Sad to see how bad visualization and art has gotten in sequels and remakes of classic films.

This was one of my big buggaboos about Star Trek (2009), too.

[GeorgeC]

The Digital Bits on WHY Tron hasn't been announced for Blu ray... YET!

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocent ... ml#113010b

"One other brief note: A lot of you have asked why Disney hasn't released the original TRON on Blu-ray as part of the build-up to the 12/16 debut of the sequel, TRON: Legacy, in theatres. I don't have special knowledge on this (though I'll certainly ask the studio), but having seen the original film recently in high-def on HDNet, my guess would be that the studio feared it might scare off mainstream audiences. The original TRON, fond of it though we are, doesn't really have a lot of mainstream appeal these days. And clearly, just judging by its current marketing campaign alone, Disney is doing everything it can to make TRON: Legacy a more mainstream 3D movie event - something that both honors the original TRON but also reaches audiences WELL beyond those of the original film. Given that, if I had to bet, I'd lay money that you'll see both TRON and TRON: Legacy arrive on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on the same street date next year, probably individually and in a box set as well. Rest assured that when we learn anything official, we'll let you know. "


***************

TO Bill Hunt:

The original TRON NEVER had mainstream appeal! It was a box office dud! The screenplay wasn't that good, and the acting was "meh." There were a lot of good actors in that film but for many of them it was early in their careers and they weren't that good in the film. For that matter, has Director Stephen Lisberger done much of anything since TRON? Certainly nothing high-profile! He's spent the better part of at least 20 years trying to do something in connection with a 1982 film that didn't get off the ground.

Can you stop pretending that most people agree with you that TRON was a great film!?!?!? It wasn't! Accept it... Move on!

I saw the videogames for some years AFTER the film was released and they did well for their time. I would STILL suspect there are more fans of BOTH the original TRON videogame AND its sequel, Discs of TRON, than there ever were for the film.



P.S. -- TRON: Legacy is not doing so well in pre-release tracking, either...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/t ... arly-54937

Unless there is a massive underground audience and good word of mouth for this film, it's going to be a huge bomb for Disney....