There he stood, wearing a red raincoat draped dramatically over a white suit, perched 30 feet above Piccadilly Circus for the October 1 London premiere. Tron: Ares. What was Jared Leto doing up there, greeting his audience like an interstellar overlord?
Of course, he’s generating excitement for his latest blockbuster. The stunt was straight out of Leto’s playbook – involving pomposity, tall buildings and shoulder-length hair tossed around by the elements – but failed to fulfill its primary mission: to bring audiences to the theaters.
Like a Light Cycle hitting a Jetwall, Tron: Ares was savagely destroyed at the box office this weekend, grossing at least $10 million less than its expected opening gross. Disney’s sci-fi tentpole grossed a dismal $33.2 million from 4,000 theaters, against a net production budget of at least $180 million. Overseas, the science epic also failed to connect, grossing $27 million for a global start of $60.2 million. Some at Disney have always felt that only die-hard fans should show up, which is not a Leto problem but an intellectual property problem. They were right; Men aged 18 to 24, the sweet spot, largely under-indexed. Combined with a bland CinemaScore B+, sources say Tron will probably retire from the big screen.
Leto enjoys the show. How else would you describe an actor who climbs the Empire State Building, going from the 86th floor observatory to the 104th floor, all to promote his band 30 Seconds to Mars? For what? “Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the Empire State Building,” Leto told Jimmy Fallon.
But the stunts may not be enough to distract from a wave of negative headlines after Air Mail collected nine allegations from women describing disturbing behavior, ranging from flirtatious propositions when they were underage to episodes of exposure. Its representatives denied everything. But alarmed Disney executives had no idea whether other accusations might emerge.
This did not happen and Leto embarked on a worldwide promotional tour. He was the face of Ares: Tron campaign and was a consummate professional throughout, studio insiders say. Sources say The Hollywood Reporter he earned seven figures for the role, plus a seven-figure production fee.
He then starred in MGM/Mattel’s Masters of the Universe as He-Man’s acute antagonist, Skeletor. This could be a good career move – playing the iconic skull-faced fantasy villain who falls somewhere between real threat and camp.
Yet the days when Leto could, through sheer willpower and charisma in the room, get the nod are probably over. Tron. Ares was originally intended as a simple sequel to 2010’s Tron: Legacyitself a modest success, having grossed $400 million worldwide against a net production budget of $170 million. “The first iteration of (Ares) the script was a different movie, but it had a character named Ares,” said screenwriter Jesse Wigutow. Polygon for a story from October 11.
The version was eventually abandoned by Disney. But Leto wouldn’t give up. It didn’t hurt to have a powerful ally on his side: Sean Bailey, who was hired to run Disney’s live-action studio in 2010 by former Disney star Rich Ross after producing Tron: Legacy. And he also benefited from the goodwill of his earlier praised dramatic work in Dallas Buyers Club (which won him an Oscar for a supporting role) and Requiem for a dream. The pitch worked and in 2017, Leto was elevated to producer and the film’s narrative was reframed so that the protagonist became Ares, his character. Leto not only got his Tron movie – he was now the star. (Bailey, the film’s main promoter at the studio, was shown the door last year, but has a production deal with Disney.)
But now the big salaries Leto was earning for Ares That could be in the past, as an agency partner says studios had already moved away from the actor as a lead choice after the failure of Sony’s Spider-Man universe spin-off. Morbiuswhich opened to $39 million in the United States, on its way to $167 million globally in 2022. “In a world where Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor and Benedict Cumberbatch are struggling to get leading roles, why would you even go to someone who can’t open a movie and has question marks around him as a person? » asks one of the best talent management partners.
With Ares flop, the insider says Leto’s currency in town has become colder than Morbius’ vampire blood. To be clear, the extinction of Tron This isn’t Leto’s only burden. “You could have had Ryan Gosling, it wasn’t going to work,” explains the agency’s first partner. “No one asked for this reboot. If you say: “Tron: Ares That’s good, we just needed a different actor,” you’re kidding yourself.”
This story first appeared in the October 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
