Ares’ Scrapped a Controversial AI-Generated Character Due To Bad Publicity

Tron: Ares plot centers around artificial intelligence, but it looks like Disney actually considered using it in the film. Tron: Ares is the third film in the surprising Tron trilogy, following the cult-classic 1982 movie, Tron, and 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy. Where past films have shown humans going into the digital world, this third entry will bring the programs into the real world in an explosive confrontation between humanity and artificial intelligence.

In a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, via Deadline, Disney executives “pitched the idea of actually incorporating AI into one of the characters in the sequel…as a buzzy marketing strategy.” The AI character would have been a sidekick to Jeff Bridges’ character, Flynn. It is unclear exactly what the extent of the AI character or marketing strategy would have been, but the concept was scrapped because “executives internally were told that the company couldn’t risk the bad publicity.”

Disney Was Scared To Use AI…For Now

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

While it is good that Disney opted not to use AI in Tron: Ares, recognizing how bad the optics are, it certainly isn’t a good sign they even considered it in the first place. Disney’s Marvel Television has already faced criticism for using AI in the title cards for Secret Invasion, which put doubt in people’s minds about what else could be incorporating AI, with even the first posters for The Fantastic Four: First Steps being accused of being AI-generated. Then Lucasfilm and ILM released the embarrassingly bad AI tech-demo of a Star Wars nature documentary that was the worst thing to happen to that franchise (which is saying something).

Public sentiment is what prevented Disney from backing AI in Tron: Ares, but if they ever got the inclination that people wouldn’t care, that implies they would embrace the technology. It feels like, more and more each day, major institutions and voices that are known for preserving film are slowly embracing AI to make audiences comfortable with it. IMAX is holding an AI film contest. Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz not only did a segment on the AI-enchanced version of The Wizard of Oz for the Las Vegas Sphere, but then defended himself for the segment and the technology, citing it as the future.

Disney traded in one bit of bad publicity on Tron: Ares for another. Instead of discussing AI in their film, they are now dealing with the controversy surrounding Jared Leto’s sexual misconduct allegations. Disney seemingly isn’t too worried about the allegations against Leto since they had him as part of the Tron: Ares San Diego Comic-Con 2025 panel. Yet combining Leto with the idea that the film and Disney itself as a company even considered AI is a storm of bad press that could mark a potential third financial disappointment in the Tron film franchise.

Source: Deadline