Jeff Bridges compares Tron: Ares flop to Heaven’s Gate…but will Ares ever find its audience?

With a budget pegged upwards of $220 million and a domestic take of under $65 million (the international numbers aren’t anything to brag about, either), Tron: Ares is one of the most talked-about box office flops in recent memory (and there have been a lot this year). Objectively, it just had no chance of making back its budget. But will it have a chance to find its audience as years pass? I say no, but star Jeff Bridges is a bit more optimistic for the future of Ares.

Sitting down with Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Bridges – who yet again plays as Kevin Flynn, the only returning Tron alum (another factor that doesn’t help draw audiences) – cited one of the most cited and notorious box office flops in history: Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate. And while he did admit that opening weekend numbers aren’t exactly his forte, he did try to put it all into perspective. “It’s interesting, though, how movies are received at opening weekend. I remember Heaven’s Gate was considered, you know, very disappointing or a flop, but nowadays it’s considered kind of a masterpiece.” With a budget of $44 million, Heaven’s Gate barely made over $1 million on opening weekend…which kind of makes Tron: Ares look pretty good!

Bridges went on to note that there is an upcoming screening of Heaven’s Gate that will showcase Cimino’s director’s cut, which clocks in at over three and a half hours long. We’re quite hopeful that no such cut exists for Tron: Ares, but either way, the chances of it getting any sort of retrospective screening seem extremely low. Sure, we’re only a couple of weeks removed from its opening and who really knows what the future of any movie brings, but this is one that is likely to be used as a textbook example of 21st century box office flops.

We’ve delved into why Tron: Ares may have done so terribly at the box office a few times already. Personally, I take the position that there is no core audience for the franchise and that Disney has to stop making Tron a “thing.” But we also want to hear from you! Do you think Ares will eventually find an audience down the line? What will it take for people to come out for it?

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