Tron: Legacy / The Next Day

[EricJ]

I SAW it, and didn't have time to ask what it was:
Viral? Fan-film? FlynnLives.com update? DVD bonus-feature clip? Pre-3 hype?

(Any context would be appreciated? )

[Daniel]

You can view the video here.

Supposedly it uses footage from the Flynn Lives online campaign.

[Dan]

Spoiler description of the video:

Taking place roughly right where Legacy ended, the hacker responsible for the Flynn Lives campaign begins his final transmission as the changes to ENCOM as well as a federal investigation closing in takes place. We get flashes of how ENCOM operated following Flynn's disappearance (one of the main reasons for their change when they see Dillinger Systems on the rise) and how the viral movement came to be (using footage from the 2010 WonderCon event in the process). When he finishes, the hacker begins to take down all the evidence of his work and is about to wipe the hard drive when suddenly...

"Greetings, Program!"

The hacker looks up to see Alan Bradley. The hacker is revealed to be Roy Kleinberg, a former employee who was fired twenty years ago for not accepting the change in direction. It is revealed that Alan had been secretly funding the Flynn Lives movement. With the changes going on, Alan decides is best to end the movement even though they both still suspect Flynn is alive some where, but they believe it's time to restart their company now that Sam is running the show. Alan is now chairman of the board and wants Roy to be part of the team as the previous group of company men are now leaving, save for Dillinger Jr. is staying since he earned his spot. Alan wants Roy to be the company's "moral compass." After some thought, Roy gives his answer.

Roy: Sign me up, Tron.
Alan: Good to have you back, Ram.

Roy is played by Dan Shor, who portrayed Ram in the original film.

Roy: One question... Why did Flynn give you the cool nickname?

As they head off to begin their new journey, Sam arrives at the ENCOM building amid a frenzy of press. When pushed for a statement, Sam merely unzips his jacket and opens it to reveal him wearing a "Flynn Lives" T-shirt.

It's rumored that, in addition to the short film, there are other hints sprinkled through out the Blu Ray that they are laying the ground works for a third film. It is said that they contain the following:

There is expected to be a video of Quorra arriving at the ENCOM building by herself. Curious members of the press ask who she is. In the end, she reveals that she had spoken to Kevin Flynn within the last twenty four hours.

There is also expected to be a display of text between Dillinger Sr. and Jr. It is revealed from the messages that things are moving along according to plan.

I'll say this... My friend and I sooo cannot wait for Comic Con.

[Darkblade]

Is anyone from DC animation working on this?

[Dan]

I believe it's Uprising you are referring to, not Next Day.

[Ben]

Thanks for the new link!

It's a bit "direct to video", but intriguing, and good to see original cast members involved in obviously new footage. Not quite sure what this was saying (in parts it's like a backstory between Tron and Tron: Legacy, at others it seems to follow on from Legacy), but it was pretty cool. Dillinger Jr is obviously going to have a part to play in any upcoming installments...

[Ben]

TrailerAddict has the full clip:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/tr ... er-trailer

[Dan]

Make sure you have your speakers on when playing this.

Once again, hidden as a spoiler for those who have not seen Legacy.

[Ben]

Copyright claim by Disney...

[Dan]

Here it is again, but view it quickly. Remember, make sure sound is on.

[Ben]

Hmmm...not sure what to make of that. Intriguing...

Funniest thing though, when he asks "Will this be a problem?" - He sounds just like a poor little sad computer about to burst into tears.

[Dan]

Obviously the clip sets up the stage for what part three will be like and who the antagonists will be.

Here's how I look at it:

Remnants of the MCP remained on the grid following its defeat at the hands of Flynn and Tron. It managed to locate Clu, infected and corrupted him like a virus would, and turned it into the monster it became in Legacy. At some point, the MCP also managed to make contact with Sr. and help develop the steps to his reclaiming his former position (Dillenger Systems being the result, as seen in the Flynn Lives Revealed clip). Together with Jr., they orchestrate a plan to have Jr. infiltrate ENCOM, the idea being that Jr. would set into motion situations resulting in ENCOM and Dillenger Systems merging with Sr. becoming majority share holder and eventually rise back into power of the company. Though the Dillengers may not know about the grid, Clu's takeover over the last several years has done enough for the MCP and the Dillengers to take their plan to the next stage without encountering any serious resistance. Then Sam takes over the company as CEO, laying off the majority of executives who would have been key allies in making the merge run smoothly and reintroducing his father's idea of what the company was about. Jr. believes that Sam is too late for his changes to interfere with their actions, but Sr. and the MCP are siding with caution.

[estefan]

Just read the review on the main page. Great read.

However, in regards to your commenting on the summer of '82, I thought Poltergeist (thanks to Spielberg's name atop the poster) also found an audience that summer.* Or, at least, I was under the impression it was a notable hit, even if not coming close to the success of E.T.

Of course, The Secret of NIMH might be one of the most infamous flops of that summer that was helped by home video and Spielberg's latter endorsement of Don Bluth, but now I'm getting off-topic here.

*Along with Star Trek II, whose big success among non-Trekkers probably helped there to be more Enterprise adventures.

[EricJ]

Accdg. to BoxOfficeMojo, the biggest hits of Summer '82 were:

1) ET - $359M
2) An Officer & a Gentleman - $129M
3) Rocky III - $124M
4) Porky's - $105M
5) Star Trek II:tWoK - $78M
6) Poltergeist - $76M

It was '82: There was just too much competition.

It wasn't the "genre" that flopped, it was just the more memorable entries that year:
Blade Runner was too obscure, Road Warrior was too out there (and had funny accents), The Thing was too icky, Conan was too pretentious and R-rated for the kids who wanted to see it, NIMH was just starting to get by on word of mouth (but this was the point in the 80's where animation was dying in a Care Bears ghetto), Dark Crystal wasn't till Christmas, Annie was such a misfire that the studio ended up promoting it as "the Carol Burnett movie", and Tron had hyped itself up to be the "Pac-Man: the Movie" that it wasn't.
Porky's, Mr. T, and Richard Gere carrying out girls certainly haven't aged well, but just try and get audiences away from them at the time.

(And FWIW, Grease 2 writer Ken Finkleman that same year went on to write/direct one of '82's more unfairly overlooked guilty pleasures, "Airplane II: the Sequel".)

[Ben]

Weeeeeellllllll...if you want to get finicky about it!

Thanks for the kind words on my review, Estafan, and you're right that Poltergeist was a notable success - but of course I was trying to make an argument for how Tron has been perceived over the years and so chose the titles I used carefully. As you saw, I didn't include Trek II or NIMH because they did find audiences (NIMH got a better reception in Europe than the US as I remember) but I also wanted to include genre-type films that people had heard of to illustrate the point. So while Poltergeist did make money, it wasn't a huge smash and I figured I'd run it in my grouping of 1982 also-rans (again, it wasn't until the home video release that MGM greenlit Poltergeist II, notably without Spielberg, who didn't feel the film's box office warranted a second one).

Eric...I agree on Airplane II, and think it's every bit as funny as the original, with some gags hitting the bullseye even more so. And when you think Finkleman was working on his own as opposed to a gang of three, he did a pretty darn good job that gets overlooked by too man (or disregarded by that gang of three who may have been, well, a little jealous?).