After two years of anticipation, hype and mystery following the unceremonious debut of a teaser trailer at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, TRON: Legacy met with a decidedly mixed response when it was released on December 17, 2010. Although the film ultimately went on to be a hit for Walt Disney DIS -0.64% Studios, it took its time getting to $400 million in worldwide receipts, and sharply divided audiences, evidenced by a 52% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Since then, however, fan interest has kept the possibility of a follow-up alive, and various members of the TRON team, most notably director Joe Kosinski and writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, have provided updates about how soon audiences can look forward to being brought back into The Grid.
In conjunction with the release of his new series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Horowitz spoke briefly with me about the future of TRON on TV and film. In addition to talking about the possibility of bringing TRON: Uprising to home video, Horowitz revealed the latest details about the TRON sequel, and reflected on the learning process he’s gone through as fans and critics alike have analyzed his work on the first film in anticipation for a second.
Do you know anything about when TRON: Uprising might make its way to home video?
Horowitz: That is an excellent question. I think it’s coming in some form. I don’t know the release date. That’s something we are super proud of and was one of the most fun things we ever worked on in our career. And yeah, we had an incredible team on that. And we actually brought one of our writers from that on over to Wonderland, and we hope it continues on in some form.
How far along is TRON 3?
Horowitz: Hopefully we’ll have some news about what’s going on forward with the next one soon. There’s nothing official to announce now but hopefully soon, but it’s chugging along. It is. Eddie [Kitsis] and I are co-producers on the film. And we have a script that’s being written by a great writer named Jesse Wigutow. And we’re really, really excited. I mean the studio is hopefully excited, but Joe is involved and everybody’s involved and everybody is waiting to get the go-ahead and we’re hopeful.
The first film obviously received a mixed reception. How much did you look at the reception as you embarked on writing a follow-up?
Horowitz: Every movie gets a mixed reception to some extent. And whatever the critics said or didn’t say, we were very humbled by the praise and humbled by the criticisms. But, what really meant the most to me is, and I remember this very fondly, which was opening weekend of the movie, driving over to Burbank and going into one of the theaters in there that was packed and seeing kids who were my age, when I saw the original TRON, staring up at the light jets. And like that’s all I needed — because that was like I got to see myself in that audience. And that’s what Eddie and I were hoping to achieve, which was we’re fans and if we can create new fans in that franchise, which I think and hope we did, then I feel like it was mission accomplished. And if we’re lucky enough to continue on with the franchise, we only want to keep making it better.
But maybe in general, how much do you look at criticism and go, oh yeah, this didn’t quite make as much sense on the screen as it did in my head, and we need to make sure the next time that we’re clearer, or do something differently?
Horowitz: You know, it’s a learning process. And that’s the thing. You read reviews and the thing with it is your job, as a reviewer, is so hard. You got to sit there and you got to take in the whole of the experience and then kind of make something of it. And maybe you get to see it a few times when you get to do it. So for us the perspective is, like with TRON for example, it’s been three and a half years working on that movie. So it’s like every decision that happened and everything that appeared on that screen there’s a reason for it and some things happen for different reasons – and some things happened as happy accidents or not. And you just try to take the things that you think really worked and kind of grow on them and move forward and improve upon them. And if something didn’t work, you try to take it as a learning experience. And I think reading the reviews, we love to hear what critics say, what the fans say. And it’s because that’s where we came from too. And, you know, we’re big boys – look, it’s the job. We are so lucky to be able to put stuff out. So if we’re gonna be lucky enough to do that we’ve got to be able to hear what comes back at us. And, you know, ultimately we’re doing it for you guys. So, you know, have at it.
