Ask me how much I hate Tron rumours.

How much do you hate Tron rumours, Trevor?

I hate them so much, you guys. Because every time Bruce Boxleitner says something, or there’s talk of a new video game, or Disney deigns to put Sam and Quorra in Infinity, I get really excited, and invariably I get let down by the result.

This is probably going to be one of those times, but bear with me while I explain why I think it might not be a total letdown.

Relatively hot on the heels of the news that legend Girgio Moroder is working with Skrillex on a new Tron video game of some sort (in my opinion, probably an expansion or new content for Infinity, but that’s just me) comes this possibility that a sequel to 1982’s Tron and 2011’s Tron: Legacy may be shooting in Vancouver beginning October 5th, and it’ll be called Tron: Ascension.

But when I stumbled across a thread on Reddit arguing about the legitimacy of a tweet suggesting this, my skeptical brain launched into overdrive and I had to try and confirm or deny the news. The tweet linked to read as follows:

The author of the tweet seems to be a special effects cable supplier in Vancouver, which begs the question of how this person would have insider information like this. Well, it seems like she doesn’t, necessarily — just access to the same information that others would, were they subscribed to the trade publication Production Weekly. It’s billed as follows:

An invaluable resource tool for anyone seriously considering a career in the entertainment business. A must-have trade publication of quality information for any professional or company that serves the media. Our clients cover a broad spectrum of the film-making process from studio executives to production assistants. Published every Thursday, each issue is revised weekly with an average of over 75 listings containing the project title, production company information including phone and fax numbers plus e-mail address, as well as the above the line crew and talent in addition to the log line, location start/wrap dates.

Without subscribing, there is definitely a project listed in the preview for this week’s issue titled Tron: Ascension.

The other consideration is that Boxleitner’s interview with Crave that I link to above puts the production of the film in late 2014 or 2015.

“All I know is, they don’t tell me anything, but they want to do it I would say probably the end of this year, for 2015 maybe,” Boxleitner said. “They don’t have any dates but I’m thinking from the scuttlebutt I’m hearing that’s it, but I don’t know anything for sure other than they do have a script they love, they’re still tweaking.”

The other other thing to consider is that the biggest failing of Tron: Legacy, in my opinion, is that there was no real momentum around the franchise before it came out. There was nothing for 20 years, then a Comicon teaser, then a long pause, and then everything at once — Legacy, the game Evolution, and the horribly mistreated animated series Uprising. There was too much too soon and not enough demand for it.

If Disney has seen Tron’s content doing well in Infinity, they can start to build momentum with more, generate excitement and demand around this (possible) new game featuring Skrillex, and any other trans-media stuff they can push out there. I hope that we start to see new Tron content by the time October rolls around, so that if a new film does start shooting, we can continue to build excitement for it leading through production and up to release.

What do you think? Is there any weight behind this rumour?

Update: Evening, March 10th

A number of things happened on this story today. One of those things was a lovely but disheartening Twitter conversation with the hero of the Grid himself, Bruce Boxleitner, in which he revealed that he had no more information than I had pieced together based on Lindsay’s earlier tweet.

That one fave on my second tweet is by Bruce himself. What a class act.

Second, Vancity Buzz has reported on Lindsay Barker’s claims about Tron 3, but provided no new information that we couldn’t already piece together from either Lindsay’s earlier tweets or a bit of conjecture based on Production Weekly. No new news is bad news as it’s simply repeating a rumour, but I would hope that the source would be well trusted to repeat such a substantial rumour. Thanks to /u/captainfranklen on Reddit for the tip.

Third, speaking of trusted sources, Badass Digest has picked up the story. Again, there was no new information until this update:

UPDATE: Right after I ran this story I was contacted by a trusted source who tells me that the movie is happening, and that Joseph Kosinski is back for it.

Kosinski, of course, is the director of Tron: Legacy and Oblivion.

Thanks to TronFAQ LDSO on Twitter who put me on to this. For another perspective on the story, I recommend you check out his article here.

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