Tron: Ares' Rotten Tomatoes score has fans up in arms, as audience reviews for the Jared Leto-led sci-fi threequel are completely opposite the critics' score. Reviews for the new Tron movie have not been exactly glowing. The film debuted with a lean 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critic Tessa Smith calling it a "visually stunning, brilliantly scored film" marred by a "basic plot & basic characters."
However, the audience reaction has seemingly been the opposite since its debut in theaters, puzzling fans everywhere. As of writing, Tron: Ares sits at a stellar 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the highest-rated movie in the franchise among audience members.
This 86% mark makes for an over 30% spread between critics' and audience reactions to the film on the review aggregation platform. While critics decried the film's lack of emotional stake, flat characters, and overall bleh storytelling, audiences seemingly had the opposite reaction.
"Tron was my favorite movie growing up, and this movie had a feel of the original Tron movie, and I loved it," one user wrote, while others called it "Movie of the year" and a "sumptuous feast for the senses."
Rotten Tomatoes critics and audience scores are rarely identical; however, to have a disparity this great is notable. For comparison, Tron has only a difference of 8% while Tron: Legacy's is a little bigger at 13%. Tron: Ares' audience score is a full 31% higher than that of the critics.
After reviews dropped several days before the movie's October 10 release, questions began to arise about the Tron sequel's box office prospects. However, if the movie is going to resonate with audiences on the level it seems to be, then perhaps those worried may have been for naught.
Tron: Ares is playing in theaters worldwide. The 2025 film marks the third mainline Tron movie, telling the story of a rogue program, Ares (Jared Leto), who leaves the digital world for the human one. Leto leads the new film with Past Lives' Greta Lee, American Horror Story actor Evan Peters, and series mainstay Jeff Bridges backing him up.
Why Is Tron: Ares' Audience Score So Much Higher on Rotten Tomatoes?
After hearing early reviews for Tron: Ares, many moviegoers initially dismissed the new legacy sequel; however, audiences seem to be embracing the latest blockbuster.
But what caused this massive fissure between critics and the general moviegoer? Sure, critics and audiences have disagreed on movies before, but this feels like something different, even outside of that.
The biggest thing that keeps coming up in critical reviews is that the movie looks and sounds fantastic, but the writing, acting, and everything else cause the movie to fall apart.
So, for movie fans looking for the cinematic equivalent of a theme park ride, Tron: Ares will probably resonate. And that is what is likely happening here.
Tron: Ares, by all accounts, is a flashy movie, and sometimes flashy is enough to surprise and delight the average moviegoer. It can be easy to overlook weak writing or flat performances when a movie brings the razzle-dazzle in the visual/audio department.
A similar case was made for Tron: Legacy at the time of release, but time has not been too kind to that movie's visuals (one of the only things it had going for it), making audiences reconsider their take on the film.
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