Tron Legacy
Teaser poster
Directed by	Joseph Kosinski
Produced by	Sean Bailey Jeffrey Silver Steven Lisberger Co-Producer: Julien Lemaitre
Written by	Steven Lisberger Lee Sternthal Brian Klugman Screenplay: Richard Jefferies Adam Horowitz Edward Kitsis
Starring	Jeff Bridges Garrett Hedlund Bruce Boxleitner Michael Sheen Olivia Wilde Beau Garrett John Hurt[1]
Music by	Daft Punk
Cinematography	Claudio Miranda
Studio	LivePlanet
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures The Walt Disney Company
Release date(s)	December 17, 2010 [2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Tron

Tron Legacy^[3][4] is a forthcoming 2010^[5] science fiction film. It is a sequel to the 1982 film Tron.

Joseph Kosinski is directing the film, while the previous film director, Steven Lisberger, returns as a producer. Jeff Bridges will reprise his role as Kevin Flynn, and Bruce Boxleitner his roles as Alan Bradley and Tron, while Garrett Hedlund will portray Flynn's now-adult son, Sam.^[6] The other cast members include Olivia Wilde, Beau Garrett and John Hurt.^[1]

According to the teaser trailer shown at the 2008 and 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, the film will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D.^[7] On September 3, 2009, Walt Disney Pictures announced that Tron Legacy will appear in theaters on December 17, 2010, to go head-to-head with Warner Bros. Family Entertainment's Yogi Bear.^[2]

[edit] Premise

According to a Disney press release, the storyline for the film is:

Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidante (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.^[8]

[edit] Cast

• Garrett Hedlund as Sam Flynn
• Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn/Clu
• Bruce Boxleitner as Alan Bradley/Tron
• Michael Sheen as the film's villain, a night club owner inside the Tron world.^[9]
• Olivia Wilde as Quorra, Kevin's loyal confidant.
• Beau Garrett and John Hurt (characters to be announced)
• Daft Punk (characters to be announced)

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

In the late 1990s, there was speculation that Disney would make a sequel film, due to the original film's cult following. On July 29, 1999, ZDnet News reported that a Tron sequel or remake was being considered by Pixar.^[10] Throughout the next several years, many false rumors that a Tron sequel was in production or being developed were reported by various news websites.

On January 13, 2005, Variety reported that Disney had hired Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to write a sequel to Tron.

At the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con,^[7] a preliminary teaser trailer (labeled as TR2N and directed by Joseph Kosinski) was shown as a surprise to convention guests. It depicted a yellow Program engaged in a light cycle battle with a blue Program, and it prominently featured Jeff Bridges reprising his role as an aged Kevin Flynn (from the first film). At the end of the trailer, the yellow Program showed his face, which appeared identical to Flynn's earlier program Clu (resembling the younger Flynn in Tron).

While the trailer did not confirm that a Tron sequel was in production, it showed that Disney was serious about a sequel. In an interview with Sci-Fi Wire, Bridges revealed that the test footage was not likely to appear in the finished movie.^[11]

On September 24, 2008, Disney showcased its upcoming films in a daylong presentation for Disney partners and the media at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. One of the many films showcased was TR2N, in which the same trailer from Comic-Con was shown to the crowd. According to Ain't It Cool News: "They showed the TRON 2 trailer, the same that was shown at 2008 Comic Con with updated visuals and Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook said, 'it was for sure a go'."^[12]

The redesigned Light cycle as featured in the Comic-Con trailer.

On July 23, 2009, Disney revealed the current title at their Comic-Con 3D panel. Jeff Bridges explains that the title is in reference to the story’s theme: “It’s basically a story about a son’s search for his father." They also showed a trailer similar to the one shown at Comic-Con 2008, with updated visuals. At the time, the film just wrapped production and they had a year of post production ahead of them. Because none of the footage from inside the computer world was finished, they premiered concept images from the production. Art included the recognizer, which has been updated from the original film. Concept photos were also shown of Disc Wars, which has also been revised from the original film into a 16-game tournament. The arena is set-up so that the game court organically changes, and all 16 games are going on at the same time. The boards also combine in real time until the last two Disc warriors are connected.

Light cycles will be making a return,^[13][14] with new designs by Daniel Simon.^[15] According to the press conference at Comic-Con 2009, a new vehicle called a "Light Runner" is to be a two-seat version of the light cycle. It is said to be very fast, and has the unique ability to go off the grid on its own power. We will also get a glimpse at Kevin Flynn's own cycle, a "Second Generation Light Cycle" designed in 1989 by Flynn and “rumor has it it's still the fastest thing on the grid.” It incorporates some of the look of both films.^[16]

Light cycle model on display at Fan Expo 2009 Disney booth.

A life-size model of the light cycle was put on display at a booth at Fan Expo 2009 in Toronto, Canada from August 28-30, 2009, along with a special presentation of material from the production.^[17] The conceptual art shown at ComicCon was shown in the session, along with some test film of the martial artists who will play a more athletic style of Disc Wars. A segment from the movie showed Flynn's son entering the now-decrepit arcade, playing a TRON stand-up arcade video game, noticing a passage in the wall behind the TRON game and entering it, the passage closing behind him. Flynn's son makes the visit to the arcade after he receives a message from the disconnected phone number of the arcade.

[edit] Filming

Filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia in April 2009.^[18] Stage shooting for the film is taking place at the Canadian Motion Picture Park studio in south Burnaby. The entire film will be filmed in 3D, as was the teaser.^[19] Digital Domain is working on the visual effects.^[20]

In April 2009, pictures were leaked onto the Internet showing actors in blue skintight suits.^[21] The design of the suits is reminiscent of the outfits worn by the actors in the original film.^[22]

[edit] Music

Electronic music duo Daft Punk will be composing the film score.^[23] At the time of the 2009 Comic-Con, it was revealed they have composed 24 tracks for the film.^[24] When Kosinski was asked why he decided to have Daft Punk to do the film score, he replied, "How could you not at least go to those guys?"^[25] Olivia Wilde revealed that the duo will also make an appearance in the film, and that Daft Punk may be involved with future promotional events.^[26][24] The song "Separate Ways" by Journey will also be featured in the film.^[24]

[edit] Marketing

On July 21, 2009, several movie-related websites posted they had received via mail a pair of "Flynn's Arcade" golden coins along with a flash drive. Its content was an animated gif image that showed CSS code lines. Four of them were put together and part of the code was cracked, revealing the url to Flynnlives.com,^[27] a fiction site maintained by activists who believe Kevin Flynn is alive, even though he's been missing since 1989. Clicking on a tiny spider in the lower section of the main page led to a countdown clock that hit zero on July 23, 2009, 9:30pm PDT. Within the Terms of Use Section, an address was found. It lies in San Diego, CA, near the city's convention center where the Comic Con 2009 took place and some footage and information on the sequel was released. Flynn's Arcade was re-opened at that location, with several Space Paranoids arcade machines and a variety of '80s video games. A full-size light cycle from the new movie was on display.^[28]

The same light cycle seen in San Diego was also shown at Fan Expo 2009 on August 20 in Toronto. The setup at Fan Expo had the previously shown drawings in "Flynn's Arcade" surrounding the light cycle. There were also multiple screens in the booth playing the "teaser trailer"/"Graphics Test" in a continuous loop.

A second viral site, homeoftron.com, has been found. It portrays some of the history of Flynn's Arcade as well as a fan memoir section.^[29]

On December 11, 2009 a new poster was revealed, along with the first still from the movie^[30]

[edit] Video game

A tie-in video game, entitled Tron Evolution, is set for release in winter 2010.^[31] Teaser trailers were released in November 2009, with a longer trailer was shown during the Spike Video Game Awards on December 12, 2009^[32].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Movie's trailers
• Tron Legacy at the Internet Movie Database
• Tron Legacy at Rotten Tomatoes
• flynnlives.com
• homeoftron.com