Tron was an amazing movie when it came out, and watching it you still have a feeling of it being ahead of its time and filled with a healthy dose of style and cool effects, as well as some big names in early guises, perfectly proportioned to become a classic movie.
So it’s not surprise to hear today that it is being revisited by Disney, Coming Soon said:
Disney has hired screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to write a remake of Tron, the 1982 Steven Lisberger film about a computer programmer who gets sucked into the parallel world of a computer program, reports Variety.
It’s interesting that the timing has come round after the Matrix franchise has come to it’s last stand with the online videogame Matrix Online (Ingenious title!) to allow everyone to take their place in the Matrix for a nice fat monthly fee. Anyway, the ideas are echoed and the writers want to bring it slightly closer by updating for modern ideals of computing:
“We are contemporizing it, taking these ideas that were ahead of the curve and applying them to the present, and we feel the film now has a chance to resonate with a young audience,” said Klugman.
Sternthal said the new conceit is that the computer programmer gets trapped in a cyberworld, so that the film can utilize the Internet.
Well they could end up doing a dumbed down Matrix, by that I mean Matrix without all the philosophy speeches, or they could really flatter the original and bring it forward with a modern day view. Let’s hope it’s the latter, but I think this is one to watch out for and see if Disney can bring it back.
TRON was the reason I got into computers in the first place. Now, more than twenty years later, I’m a seasoned veteran of computer programming languages! And all because TRON sparked my imagination the year I graduated high school!
Let’s hope the remake keeps the same plot and story line. But I’d like to see the new lightcycles and other effects. I bet the MCP tower will be pretty awesome!
Since you mentioned Jeff bridges Brad, what about a remake of “Starman” too? And maybe “The Last Starfighter”?
Four things a remake MUST have:
1) Lightcycles!
2) Jai Lai!
3) Glowing frisbees!
4) David Warner!
I think remaking this film is a great idea. I am sure they will do it well, but what will truly get me excited is if they pay a bit’o homage and cast Jeff Bridges as some one in the movie.
i loved Tron to bits, no pun intended, and didn’t understand why Disney didn’t give it a big dvd release. But supposedly they weren’t at all happy with the film, far to weird for their likeing and way too expensive. Funny how their discribing it now as ahead of it’s time and all. Anyway wouldn’t mind a sequel as much but i’m not looking forward to a remake. First of all why? well because it’ll make money. The first movie worked well in all it’s simple but interesting aspects. But incorporating the net, hummm sounds a lot like Lawnmower man or Virtuosity and we all know what great succeses they were. Why not make a movie about computers or the internet that’s totally different from these old ideas. Isn’t the current state of cmc and virtual reality not enough to make a good sci-fi movie? If not just do Snowcrash or Neuromancer, so at least the story is good.
Its funny cause I just baught the special edition DVD last weekend at Walmart 15$, great movie braught back memories, althought I understood it more now cause of computers than I did when I was young so that was a plus.
They have been talking about this for a number of years. A while ago, they introduced a website for Tron V2.0, just a quick flash presentation to get everybodies intrest up. Somewhere along the way it broke down and was made into a cartoon that came and went before I could find it. Nice to see they are getting back to the movie.
i am not really on board with a remake, so much of what is greta about the first one, and made it a film that lasts is how it looks. A remake without that look will not be Tron, just some sci-fi story with tron’s name on it.
Oy thanks for that info James, it’s probably on sale now so I might get it to add to my growing sci-fi collection.
There was a big 2-disc set of it came out a year or two back. Not a great film but the effects are remarkable, especially when you watch the extras and realise the amount of photographic work involved.
Yipee! I am not a big fan of TRON when it came out in the early 80’s but I must say I’ve enjoyed it. I actually need to revisit this movie again, cant seem to see if its already been released on DVD?