Tron: Ares May Out-Flop Morbius: How Many Millions Could It Lose?
Disney’s Tron: Ares is short-circuiting at the box office, with Jared Leto’s lead turn failing to spark. Deadline reports a $170–$180 million budget, and the mounting losses have some declaring Morbius the better bet.
So, Tron: Ares is not having a good time at the box office. And if you are grading Jared Leto blockbusters strictly by financial damage, the wild twist is that Morbius might actually look better by comparison. Yes, really.
Tron: Ares money math (and why it stings)
The early chatter had Tron: Ares pegged in the $170–$180 million budget range. Now, per Deadline, insiders say the real number is closer to $220 million. Add in the current worldwide gross of $103 million (via Box Office Mojo), and the film is sitting roughly $117–$132 million in the hole right now, give or take. That is... ugly. And it puts Ares squarely in the running for Leto's roughest box office outing to date.
Wait, did Morbius really lose less?
Short answer: looks that way. Long answer: the math is squishier than Twitter hot takes, but here is the clean version.
Morbius cost about $75 million to make (The-Numbers) and took in $167 million worldwide (Box Office Mojo). Rule of thumb says the studio only sees around half of the gross, so call it $83.5 million back to Sony. Marketing ran about $50 million (SlashFilm). That puts all-in costs near $125 million, which means Morbius landed roughly $40 million in the red by theatrical end. Not great, but still nowhere near Tron: Ares' current deficit.
To be crystal clear: studio cuts and P&A vary by market and timing, so these are ballpark figures. But the ballpark still tells the same story.
The snapshot
- Morbius (2022) — Director: Daniel Espinosa; Cast: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona; Budget: ~$75M; Marketing: ~\$50M; Worldwide gross: \$167M; Est. studio share: ~\$83.5M; Rotten Tomatoes: 15%; IMDb: 5.1/10; Studio: Columbia Pictures; Where to watch: Prime Video
- Tron: Ares (2025) — Director: Joachim Ronning; Cast: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters; Budget: ~\$220M (Deadline); Worldwide gross: \$103M (Box Office Mojo); Current est. loss: \$117–\$132M; Rotten Tomatoes: 53%; IMDb: 6.7/10; Studio: Walt Disney Studios; Where to watch: In US theaters now
What this means for Jared Leto
Leto went from prestige highs like Requiem for a Dream and Dallas Buyers Club to a big IP run: Joker in 2016's Suicide Squad, then Morbius, now Tron: Ares. It is not always on the actor when a tentpole faceplants, but there is definitely a pattern: when Leto is top-billed, the box office discourse gets loud, and his performances catch plenty of heat even when the receipts are decent.
After Ares, the optics are rough. Maybe this nudges him back toward smaller, sharper projects. Maybe he takes a breather. Either way, if we are just talking ledger lines, Morbius losing tens of millions looks almost responsible next to Ares burning through nine figures.
Tron: Ares is currently playing in US theaters. What do you make of this run? Is Leto due for a reset, or is this just a bad-luck streak with expensive IP?