Tron: Ares Box Office Hits 2 Major Milestones In One Weekend, Still Can't Keep Up With Huge Budget

Tron: Ares has passed two major box office milestones during its third weekend in theaters. Ares, which debuted on October 10, is the third Tron movie. The cult sci-fi franchise kicked off in 1982. While Jeff Bridges is the only returning actor with a major role, the movie boasts a star-studded cast that includes Jared Leto, Evan Peters, and Greta Lee.

Per Variety, as of Sunday morning, Tron: Ares is expected to close its third weekend in theaters by hitting a cumulative global box office total of $123 million. This comprises $63 million at the domestic box office and $60 million from international markets.

Because it is set to earn a 3-day total of $4.7 million at the domestic box office by the end of Sunday, this means that the weekend of October 24 is seeing Tron: Ares passing both the $60 million domestic milestone and the $120 million global milestone more or less simultaneously.

2025’s Tron: Ares is now the 27th movie of the year to pass $60 million in North America, outgrossing a number of prominent titles such as The Naked Gun, Ballerina, Karate Kid: Legends, and Paddington in Peru.

Similarly, it is the 28th movie of the year to pass $120 million worldwide, outstripping The Accountant 2, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, The Amateur, and more.

However, Tron: Ares‘ overall total still fails to match its enormous reported budget of $180 million. It is looking less likely that it will even hit that raw total by the end of its run, let alone its estimated break-even point, which could be as high as $450 million.

While Tron: Ares reviews have been mixed, earning it a score of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, this may not be the reason it is underperforming. After all, its 2010 predecessor Tron: Legacy has a score of 51% and still managed to gross $400.1 million worldwide by the end of its run.

Additionally, Ares has a solid Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 86% and a CinemaScore of B+, indicating that it is, at the very least, connecting with the audiences who have already seen it.

This may not be enough enthusiasm for it to muster the word of mouth for it to be a sleeper hit, but it does show that the movie’s current momentum may eventually snowball it into becoming a cult classic like the two previous installments in the long-running sci-fi franchise.

Regardless, it will be a long time before Tron: Ares breaks even, if it ever does. While VOD, physical media, and streaming will all help push it toward that break-even point, it still has a lot of ground to cover. This means that the possible Tron 4 teased in its closing scene may not come to fruition.

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