Jared Leto's 2025 Sci-Fi Flop That Lost Disney Over $100 Million Is Finally On Streaming

Disney tends to have a pretty decent box office track record overall. In fact, the studio continues to add more and more billion-dollar-grossing movies to its portfolio almost every year. But Disney also isn't immune to flops either — as it proved in 2025 with "Tron: Ares." The long-awaited third installment to its groundbreaking sci-fi franchise fell flat on its face at the box office, and is now available to stream on Disney+. Starring Jared Leto, who also produced, estimates put the amount of money Disney lost on the film at over $130 million when considering both production costs and marketing. 

Looper's review of "Tron: Ares" called the movie "all style, no substance" — which is about par for the course with the "Tron" franchise. And truth be told, the franchise has never been a massive box office juggernaut. There is a reason why there is always 20+ years between installments, after all. But the fact that Disney had seen fit to keep giving the series a chance speaks to its legacy — no pun intended — and how beloved it is, especially to the generation that grew up with the original.

However, the failure of "Ares" is likely the last time Disney will bother with the "Tron" franchise, at least on the big screen and at that pricey scale. It might also be the last time anyone bets big on Jared Leto. 

There are a number of reasons why "Tron: Ares" bombed at the box office, but a lot of people have put the blame on Leto himself. He definitely put himself front and center in the marketing of the movie, and Disney was keen to let him do that, apparently with the belief that it would increase the movie's chances at success. But it might have actually done the opposite: Leto hasn't exactly been a huge box office draw in recent years, with 2016's "Suicide Squad" being the last hit movie he was in. And he was barely in it. 

Not only that, but a spate of misconduct allegations from a number of women surfaced right in the middle of the "Tron: Ares" hype cycle, which didn't do the movie — or Leto's prominence in its marketing — any favors. Not that Leto had an especially sterling reputation as a person in recent years anyway. According to insiders, Leto's on-set behavior had an impact on "Morbius," his other recent high-profile, big-budget flop. And it's not the first movie of his to come with similar behind-the-scenes stories.

It has all culminated in a sense that studios are going to start distancing themselves from the star. Or at the very least, not spend tons of millions of dollars on him in the hopes that he can bring in billion-dollar crowds.