After Glitching in Theaters, Disney’s 2025 Sci-Fi Epic Is Rebooting on Streaming

There is no hiding from it; Disney had a tough time at the 2025 box office. Sure, the later releases of Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash became two of the highest-grossing films of the year, but this seemed to be the outlier, not the rule, for Disney. The fan-despised Captain America: Brave New World was the MCU's latest big flop, and even the critically beloved Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps underperformed. Elsewhere, the live-action Snow White dominated discourse but missed the mark at the box office, and James L. Brooks' latest directorial effort, Ella McCay, was treated like a bad smell by theatergoers.

Another of Disney's biggest flops of the year came as little surprise to many, as the seemingly doomed Tron: Ares ran out of steam before it had even really gotten going. Starring the polarizing Jared Leto, just three years after the disastrous Morbius, Tron: Ares looked to capitalize on the cult success of 2010's Tron: Legacy, with a third installment that would bring pulse-racing neon energy to the October box office. Instead, its formulaic narrative and poor performances left most underwhelmed, leading to what some saw as inevitable box office failure.

Against a budget some reported to be as high as $220 million, Tron: Ares couldn't even hit the $150 million mark worldwide. Split between a domestic haul of $73 million and a further $69 million from overseas markets, Tron: Ares ultimately flopped despite facing fairly unthreatening box office competition. Nevertheless, the film has since found more success on streaming, where it currently ranks inside the Disney+ top ten in the U.S. In the global charts, however, Tron: Ares is nowhere to be seen.

What Did Critics Say About 'Tron: Ares'?

Although audiences proved more receptive, critics were ultimately scathing in their response to Tron: Ares. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the movie earned just 53%, with the consensus on the site reading, "A sensory feast of vivid neon hues and a hypnotic soundtrack, Tron: Ares is gorgeous to behold but too narratively programmatic to achieve an authentically human dimension." However, the audience score is a strong 84%, with their consensus reading, "Setting its colorful visual effects to Nine Inch Nails' rollicking beats, Tron: Ares is like strapping into a stylish thrill ride beamed from the future."

Tron: Ares is streaming on Disney+. Stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates.