MovieChat Forums > Tron (1982) Discussion > The reason TRON did NOT fail

The reason TRON did NOT fail

posted 15 years ago by Mr.Big
9 replies | jump to latest

The reason TRON did not fail is because even though it was released the same summer as ET, Blade Runner, Star Trek, Gandhi, Conan, Rocky 3, Quest for Fire, Pink Floyd the Wall, Sophie’s Choice, The Thing, The Verdict, Victor Victoria, Diner, Poltergeist, 48 hours, and An officer and Gentleman, to name a few, it still held it’s own and went on to become one of the most endearing and beloved films of all time.

The fact that 1982 for some reason like fine wine just happened to be a vintage year for movies does not diminish TRON’s pedigree one iota.

Everyone was a winner.

The reason it didn’t win more awards, as it should have, is because the Academy couldn’t tell the difference between hand drawn animation and computer animation which at that time was actually much more difficult, time consuming, labor intensive, cutting edge, and innovative than they or almost anyone else could fathom.

Just watch the bonus features of the DVD to see the amount of time, effort, skill, talent, patience, hard work and plain old fashion luck that went into making this timeless masterpiece.

Another reason TRON was a success is due to the fact that even to this day we are still discussing it, literally, even as we speak.

End of line.

[–] GoryPumpkinToby 15 years ago

I wish The Dark Crystal and NIMH would've been hailed as great movies like Tron that some seem to over look.

"You have to heal the...the dark crystal" -Kira

[–] ecclectic76 15 years ago

Let's not forget that this movie was way ahead of its time! It's 1982 and it's about CYBER SPACE-The Internet and in 1982 that was not as easily grasped as it is today since in 1982 the VAST majority of people had never heard of the internet let alone percieved such a thing (Refering to the mass general public not the government developers of it) This is the Matrix 17 years before the matrix.

end of line
"and now, im going home to sleep with my wife."

[–] ljtirazona 14 years ago

Not to be a troll, but I think the setting was just on the ENCOM mainframe, not on the Internet.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Yepper1 14 years ago

The computer that the CEO of the company had in his office was also spot on. It reminded me of the current touch screen computers and phones. He typed on an on-screen keyboard, just like an iphone/ipad.

[–] Porpoise01 14 years ago

There are very few movies that can be called literally one of a kind. Tron is one. Soon to be two.

Coordinates 0/0/0/0 is God's kitchen

[–] RandomNY123 14 years ago

The reason IMDB states that Tron was a failure at the boxoffice was because Disney Execs expected to make somewhere in the ballpark of $400 million dollars( I forget if that included arcade games and other toys and whatnot), the movie never made that amount of money... It was profitable if the numbers that IMDB has are acurate but not the huge blockbuster that Hollywood expect. I think Disney was expecting STAR WARS type of business from TRON and it never materialized..

[–] VinnieRattolle 14 years ago

MrBig, clearly you don't understand the context in which the word "failure" was written. RandomNY123 is absolutely right. "TRON" was considered a ginormous financial failure at the time... and so were "Blade Runner," "Gandhi," and "Quest for Fire." Plenty of unique movies that performed poorly in their day have gone on to garner great acclaim and financial success ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "The Dark Crystal," "Labyrinth," "The Monster Squad," etc., etc.). No matter what success came in the years that followed, if a movie didn't make back its money and then some during its original release, it will always be referred to as failure.

[–] Hedley_Lamar 13 years ago

In 1982 the lines to see ET went around the block. The first time we stood in it, by the time we reached the counter, ET was sold out. So we saw Annie.
The second time it happened, we saw TRON. Had ET not been sold out, I don't think I would have seen TRON. I do remember liking it though.

From the ashes of disaster, grow the roses of success