2025’s Biggest Sci-Fi Bomb Completes Redemption Arc on Streaming

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Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

Perhaps there was some thought behind the decision to not show Jared Leto's face in the recently released trailer for Masters of the Universe, the upcoming He-Man movie in which Leto plays the villainous Skeletor. The Oscar-winning actor and musician has been having quite a difficult run at the box office in the last few years, having hit rock bottom with the sci-fi sequel Tron: Ares some months ago, after starring in the superhero dud Morbius. The movie served as a soft reboot of the franchise, following 2010's Tron: Legacy, which it all but ignored in its plot. Legacy was declared an underperformer as well, but compared to Ares, it did tremendously well. Plus, Legacy has become quite beloved in certain circles, which no doubt encouraged Disney to get Ares off the ground after more than a decade of uncertainty. Although the movie tanked in theaters, it has delivered strong results on streaming.

According to FlixPatrol, Ares remained the number one movie on both the domestic and global Disney+ charts this week, completing two full weeks of domination. It was a different story altogether at the box office, where the movie failed to crack the $150 million mark worldwide, against a budget that has been reported to be as high as $220 million. By comparison, Legacy grossed over $400 million worldwide and $170 million domestically, against a reported budget of $180 million. The 2010 movie served as a legacy sequel to the original Tron, which was released in the 1980s and has since cemented itself as one of the biggest cult classics of that era. Starring Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, alongside a returning Jeff Bridges as his character from the original movie, Legacy marked the feature directorial debut of Joseph Kosinski.

'Tron: Ares' Holds a Solid Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes

Kosinski went on to direct blockbusters such as Top Gun: Maverick and F1, both of which were nominated in the Best Picture category at the Oscars. Ares, on the other hand, was directed by Joachim Rønning, who previously directed the Disney tent pole Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and co-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Ares also featured Past Lives breakout Greta Lee as the co-lead, while Evan Peters played the antagonist, and Bridges returned as the fan-favorite Kevin Flynn. The movie holds a 53% critics' score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, but it's the film's 84% audience score that's the key to its success on Disney+. That's where you can check it out. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.