Disney's Tron was something of a cult hit back in its day, which meant decades would pass before a sequel would ever come to be. However, that movie's audience also failed to be big enough to keep the franchise alive. While there were originally plans for a third film, Disney eventually cancelled them, putting the franchise on the shelf once again. While there are no immediate plans to do anything with Tron, the producer of Tron: Legacy is still hopeful that another movie, or something, could materialize. Disney hasn't completely forgotten about Tron and so anything could happen.
Brigham Taylor is a producer and former development executive at Disney, responsible for everything from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to the recent Jon Favreau directed The Jungle Book. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Taylor spoke about how Tron was revived even though the original film was not a major success. When asked if that meant there was any opening for a Tron 3, considering the same thing happened to Legacy, he said this...
I'm always hoping for that. I just had a wonderful visit to Shanghai, where they have an amazing attraction based on Tron Legacy. The designers just did such an amazing job creating the feeling of stepping onto The Grid, and that indelible visual world that Lisberger created and Kosinski explored... and I think there's a real stickiness to that that I hope can grow into a film or whatever else.
It's certainly true that Tron had a unique visual style. It was very much the film's look that made it so popular among that subset of movie fans who enjoyed it. It was the visual design that people remembered, even if the story itself faded from many memories. Brigham Taylor seems to feel that the audience connection to that won't be going away anytime soon, which is the thing that may very well make Tron continue on in some form. From the "whatever else" comment, it sounds like minds may be open to continuing the franchise in forms other than feature films.
One of the places where Tron has continued to exist has been in Disney's theme parks. Brigham Taylor makes reference to a recent trip to Shanghai Disneyland, which recently opened, with a Tron Lightcycle Power Run roller coaster as one of the key attractions.
If anything, Tron: Legacy only created more Tron fans than there already were, which should keep more voices in Disney's ear regarding the franchise. It's true that Disney will almost certainly keep Tron going in some form. However, most fans won't rest until we get another film. While there may be no plans to make one anytime soon, it does sound like Tron 3 will always be a possibility.
How much would you like to see a new Tron film? More importantly, who wants to come with me to Shanghai? I need to ride those light cycles right now.
