New Look at ‘Tron: Ares’ Showcases Next-Level Visuals and a Bold Tech Tale

The Tron series is back with a new movie called Tron: Ares, set to release in theaters on October 10, 2025. This film promises to take visual effects to a new level, continuing the franchise’s tradition of being ahead in technology. Director Joachim Rønning told Empire magazine that working on this project feels like chasing “the Holy Grail of computer graphics.”

One unique idea in the movie is how the camera work is done. Rønning explained, “The concept was that a program is filming a program. So it’s shot by a robot.” This means the scenes are captured as if a machine is recording other digital programs, giving the movie a fresh visual style.

The original Tron movie from 1982 was famous for its groundbreaking visuals, and its 2010 follow-up, Tron: Legacy, expanded on that with bright neon lights and a digital world called The Grid. Tron: Ares plans to push this further by blending the virtual world with the real one. Steven Lisberger, the creator of Tron, shared with Empire that the famous Light Cycles will be seen racing on city streets, cutting through cars.

He said, “It has become a symbol of our riding this technology that is going faster than we ever imagined… In Ares, it’s a metaphor for the fact that this technology is moving through every part of our reality.”

The story focuses on a powerful program named Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real one on a risky mission. This represents humanity’s first real contact with artificial intelligence in the story.

Actress Greta Lee, who plays a programmer named Eve Kim, mentioned how the film feels very relevant today. She said, “So many days on set, we would get the chills, because the ideas that [Lisberger] put in place years ago are not just still relevant, but in our faces. Inescapable.”

The cast includes Jared Leto as Ares, along with Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson. Jeff Bridges returns as Kevin Flynn, a character fans will recognize from the earlier films.

Tron: Ares has had a long journey before reaching this point. After Tron: Legacy, there were several attempts to make a sequel, but many changes and delays happened. At one point, the film was approved but later canceled, reportedly because another Disney movie, Tomorrowland, did not do well at the box office.

Over the years, different directors and writers worked on the project. Eventually, the plan shifted from a direct sequel to a reboot, keeping Jared Leto’s character Ares from earlier ideas. Joachim Rønning became the director in 2023, taking over from Garth Davis. Writers like Jack Thorne have contributed to the script.

Tron: Ares will also be available in IMAX 3D, offering fans a more immersive experience. According to Walt Disney Pictures, the movie tells the story of “a highly sophisticated program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.”

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