Comments on: Disney Deletes TRON 3: End of Line? http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2015/06/05/disney-deletes-tron-3-end-of-line/ Responses to Media and Culture Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:35:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 By: Nicholas Benson http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2015/06/05/disney-deletes-tron-3-end-of-line/comment-page-1/#comment-442054 Wed, 10 Jun 2015 20:31:02 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=26889#comment-442054 Jason, I do not believe that buying Star Wars really solved Disney’s branding issue, and I think their hesitance to move forward with TRON is evidence of that. You yourself have written about how Disney is beholden to its fan base, and I think that fan base still desires princess movies and nostalgic cartoons above all else from the Disney brand, making TRON a difficult property to manage: Perhaps not perpetually, but certainly currently.

Also, it’s worth noting that “Didn’t work” is a loaded phrase. Failure is objective. Compared to some of their recent forays into live action film ‘TRON:Legacy’ was a fairly big success globally for Disney. What failed was the cartoon series, and I would argue that was more important to the long term franchising goals of the company. Once they had Star Wars they quickly replaced the show with ‘Star Wars: Rebels’.

Sorry for the delayed response, and thanks for the input!

]]> By: Nicholas Benson http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2015/06/05/disney-deletes-tron-3-end-of-line/comment-page-1/#comment-442053 Wed, 10 Jun 2015 20:21:24 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=26889#comment-442053 First of all thanks for the constructive comment! I’m certainly working through some ideas here and appreciate the feedback.

The 2012 article clearly points to Disney’s desire to use the Star Wars name to push the Disney brand in a different direction. However, I really do not think it’s quite worked out for them yet. Putting the Disney name next to Lucasfilm isn’t doing anything for the Star Wars property. It could possibly help Disney be able to brand TRON differently in the future with trailers stating “from the company that brought you ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, and ‘The Avengers’,” but for now I think Disney does not want TRON to be counted among ‘The Lone Ranger’, ‘John Carter’, and ‘Tomorrowland’, as yet another Disney bomb.

Admittedly, my analysis didn’t cover merchandise and I appreciate you bringing that to my attention. I know on Lego boxes the Disney logo is off to the right in the bottom corner on newer sets. I have been looking around at stores such as Target and Wall-Mart to see if Star Wars merchandise is located near Disney merchandise, and as far as I have seen it is not. I’d be interested to see where most people buy their Force Awakens merch.

Perhaps the biggest take away from their co-branding strategy is how carefully they seem to be putting the Disney and Star Wars logos together, Disney’s name is never centered above the logo, like it is on the TRON: Uprising logo or even on Pixar co-branded properties, instead it’s off to the upper right.

Thanks again for the response.

]]> By: Jason Sperb http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2015/06/05/disney-deletes-tron-3-end-of-line/comment-page-1/#comment-442019 Sun, 07 Jun 2015 21:16:27 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=26889#comment-442019 ‘Tron’ was always Disney’s awkward attempt at cashing in on ‘Star Wars’ on their own terms “as a purely Disney branded product.” They tried once in the 1980s and it didn’t work. So, they tried again in 2010. Still, it didn’t work.

So, they gave up and just bought the SW franchise the first chance Iger had. They humored the idea of a 3rd installment, but doesn’t seem to be a serious one.

Anyway, saying that TRON’s “a property that is perpetually stuck somewhere in between those two Disney spheres [of Marvel and princesses]” is misleading, at best.

]]> By: Andy Myers http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2015/06/05/disney-deletes-tron-3-end-of-line/comment-page-1/#comment-441999 Fri, 05 Jun 2015 19:52:44 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=26889#comment-441999 Nicholas:

I like your overview of how the TRON franchise relates to Disney’s more recently acquired franchises. I think, however, that you’re missing the large extent to which Disney is co-branding Star Wars, especially in merchandise. Disney very early on declared its intention to co-brand Disney and Lucasfilm, more like Pixar than Marvel. (http://www.businessinsider.com/disney-lucasfilm-branding-2012-11).

For examples of how this strategy is being widely implemented, see the cover of the Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion DVD (http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140814063703/starwars/images/b/b2/SparkofRebellion.png), or the official merchandise packaging template for The Force Awakens merchandise (http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-force-awakens-products-to-arrive-on-force-friday-september-4).

There are indeed some strategic absences of Disney’s branding with the new film rollout — for example, I doubt a Disney fanfare will replace the old Fox one — so it will be interesting to see how this tension plays out.

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