Tron Ares Stumbles at the Weekend Box Office: Is the Grid Finally Going Dark?

Well, that did not light up the Grid. Disney rolled out a third Tron and audiences mostly shrugged. Even the tempered expectations were too generous.

Tron: Ares stumbles out of the gate

Comscore pegs Tron: Ares at a $33.5 million domestic opening. That is a soft start for a movie that cost at least $150 million. To be fair, this series has never really owned the box office. The 1982 original fizzled, and Tron: Legacy made about $170 million domestically in 2010 but basically only broke even thanks to its hefty price tag and the mountain of hype. Disney once floated Tron as their next Avatar-level play. It never got there.

Where does that leave Ares? There is a path to break-even if overseas business shows up in a big way, and it will almost certainly pop on Disney+ once it lands there. If we go back to the Grid anytime soon, I would not be shocked if it is as a streaming series, not another theatrical swing.

So... why the belly flop?

Some of it is casting gravity. Jared Leto tends to split audiences, and his last comic-book outing, Morbius, cratered. That does not exactly motivate a rush to theaters. For what it is worth, he is perfectly fine in the movie. The bigger issue is brand heat: Tron has loyal fans but has never been a must-see for the masses, and this weekend reinforced that.

The rest of the weekend, in quick hits

• 1) Tron: Ares — $33.5M opening (budget: at least $150M)
• 2) Roofman — $8M start; low $19M budget, B+ CinemaScore. Paramount will be happy if it has the kind of steady legs P.T. Anderson’s One Battle After Another is showing.
• 3) One Battle After Another (WB) — Down only 39% to $4.6M; $54M domestic total so far. Even with the strong holds, WB will likely take a loss here — but a big awards run could change the narrative.
• 4) Gabby’s Dollhouse — $3.35M; $26M domestic to date.
• 5) Soul on Fire (Sony/Affirm) — $3M, which is on the low side for the studio’s faith-based label.
• The Conjuring: Last Rites — $2.9M; massive $172M domestic total. It is the top earner in the entire franchise by a wide margin.
• Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle — $2.25M; $128M domestic total and counting.
• The Rock’s Smashing Machine — Ouch. Down 69% in week two to $1.79M; $9.8M total. Given the budget and pedigree, this is shaping up as one of the year’s bigger box office face-plants. No surprise Dwayne Johnson is already lining up another Jumanji.
• The Strangers: Chapter 2 — $1.55M; $13M total. Quiet exit.
• Good Boy (IFC/Shudder) — $1.3M; $4.6M total. Small but steady.

What did you end up seeing this weekend? Did you hit the Grid or skip it? Tell me below.