‘Tron: Ares’ leads box office but disappoints with $33.5 million opening

LOS ANGELES – “Tron: Ares” opened with $33.5 million this weekend to lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

That total was below studio hopes for Disney’s big-budget reboot of the science fiction property, which stars Jared Leto and follows 1982’s original and 2010’s “Tron: Legacy.”

Second place went to “Roofman,” a caper film and romance starring Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst, which opened with $8 million, Comscore reported.

Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” grossed

DreamWorks’ “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” claimed fourth place with $3.3 million in its third weekend, followed by the faith based drama “Soul on Fire,” which opened with $3 million.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “The Conjuring: Last Rites” ($2.9 million), “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — the Movie Infinity Castle” ($2.2 million), “The Smashing Machine” ($1.7 million), “The Strangers: Chapter 2” ($1.5 million) and “Good Boy” ($1.3 million).

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $70.3 million. The year-to-date total is $6.768 billion — up 3.8 percent from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

‘Tron: Ares’ fails to draw big numbers

Despite some favorable reviews — including a three-out-of-four-star one from The Associated Press — the new “Tron” film starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Jeff Bridges earned $33.5 million.

This image released by Disney shows Greta Lee, from left, Jared Leto and Arturo Castro in a scene from “Tron: Ares.” (Disney via AP)

The big-budget project, reported to cost around $150 million, arrived 15 years after “Tron: Legacy” opened to $44 million before grossing more than $400 million globally.

The latest chapter follows a battle between two powerful technology firms, Emcom and Dillinger, who face off against the same artificial intelligence barrier. Both can generate physical creations using laser-based 3D printers — but each creation lasts only 29 minutes before collapsing into ash.

“Tron: Ares” was packed with action and nostalgia, but it wasn’t enough to draw big numbers across more than 4,000 theaters.
“It’s been tough for that franchise to gain traction for it to become a big mega franchise,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. He noted that the original “Tron” movie in 1982 initially struggled at the box office, but it ultimately grew a cult following.

Dergarabedian said the international numbers could play a key role toward the film’s profitability.

“It still topped the box office,” he said. “It picked a solid release date. All eyes are on a big Disney film that is a huge brand, known and has been around for decades.” (With CNS and AP reports)

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