Disney Announces 4K Blu-Ray Remasters Of ‘Tron’ And ‘Tron: Legacy’

With a new Tron film, Tron: Ares, finally hitting theaters in October, Disney has decided the time is right to finally release the original Tron and sequel Tron: Legacy on today’s premium home entertainment format, 4K Blu-ray. And judging by the lengths Disney claims to have gone to to bring both films into the 4K high dynamic range realm, it looks as if AV enthusiasts as well as Tron fans have plenty to look forward to.

Disney has confirmed that both Tron and Tron: Legacy will arrive on 4K Blu-ray on September 16 (so not long to wait at all), and that both will ship in collectible Steelbook editions featuring custom artwork and packaging (pictured below).

While this new packaging should look great on any 4K BD collector’s shelves, though, it’s what Disney claims to have done to make both films “4K BD-ready’ that will most interest home cinema fans. The original Tron has been digitally scanned and meticulously restored by The Walt Disney Film Restoration team, which corrected the new digital master for dirt, warping and other source imperfections. Resulting, Disney claims, in “pristine image quality.” The Restoration Team’s work was all undertaken under the supervision of director Steven Lisberger, too, to ensure that the remaster remains true to the original artistic intent.

Tron: Legacy was remastered to add High Dynamic Range support, meanwhile, and again this work was undertaken under the watchful eye of the film’s director – in this case, none other than Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick and F1).

Both films will appear on their respective 4K Blu-ray discs with Dolby Atmos soundtracks and Dolby Vision HDR video, which adds extra picture information to the image stream to help compatible displays deliver more accurate and, usually, dynamic images. If your TV or projector doesn’t support Dolby Vision, the disc will default to a “core” HDR10 image without the extra scene-by-scene picture data.

Tron will appear in its new 4K HDR clothes in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.20:1, while Disney’s fact sheet on Tron: Legacy states that the film will feature both 2.35:1 and 1.78:1 ratios, indicating that it will switch aspect ratios for sections of the film originally shot for the IMAX format.

The inner and outer artwork for Tron: Legacy’s upcoming steel book 4K Blu-ray release.

Photo: Disney

Disney has confirmed that, true to the Studio’s usual form, both Tron and Tron: Legacy will be mastered onto 66GB discs rather than the 100GB alternatives. This shouldn’t cause any major video compression problems, though, given that the films only have running times of 96 and 125 minutes respectively. Disney managed to achieve good picture results with its recent 66GB 4K Blu-ray release of Master & Commander: The Far Side Of The World, after all, despite that film having a running time of 138 minutes.

Both the Tron and Tron: Legacy 4K BD editions will ship with HD Blu-rays and digital streaming codes alongside the 4K disc.

Disney hasn’t created any new bonus features to go with Tron and Tron: Legacy’s new 4K Blu-ray releases. While there might not be anything new for Tron aficionados to get their teeth into, though, the roster of previously released extras provided is extensive. Full details are as follows:

Tron

Deleted Scenes:

Deleted Scenes: Introduction By Writer-Director Steven Lisberger
Deleted Scenes: Tron and Yori’s Love Scene
Deleted Scenes: Tron and Yori’s Love Scene #2
Deleted Scenes: Alternate Opening Prologue

Featurettes:

Photo Tronology: Join the director for original production photos and intimate stories
The Tron Phenomenon: Explore Tron’s impact on pop culture
The Making of Tron
Development: Early Development of Tron
Development: Early Lisberger Studios Animation
Development: “Computers are People Too”
Development: Early Video Tests
Design: Introduction By Writer-Director Steven Lisberger
Design: The Vehicles: Lightcycles: Syd Mead Discusses Lightcycle Design
Design: The Vehicles: Lightcycles Magi Animation Test
Design: The Vehicles: Recognizer: Space Paranoids Video Game – Letterbox
Design: The Vehicles: Recognizer: Space Paranoids Video Game – Full Screen
Storyboarding: The Storyboarding Process
Storyboarding: Creation of Tron Main Title-Moebius Storyboards
Storyboarding: Storyboard-To-Film Comparison: Introduction By Storyboard…
Storyboard-To-Film Comparison: Lightcycle Chase Story Board Only
Storyboarding: Storyboard-To-Film Comparison: Lightcycle Chase Final – Film
Digital Imagery: Digital Imagery in Tron
Digital Imagery: “Beyond Tron”
Digital Imagery: Role of Triple I
Digital Imagery: Triple I Demo

Music:

Music: Lightcycle Scene with Alternate Carlos Music Tracks
Music: End Credits with Original Carlos Music

Audio Commentary

Tron: Legacy

Featurettes

The Next Day – Flynn Lives Revealed: When the son of a famous video game engineer receives a virtual signal from his long-lost father, he sets off on a thrilling, high-tech adventure through a cyber universe to rescue his dad
Special Look at Tron: Uprising: The Disney XD animated series
Music Video: “Derezzed” written, produced and performed by Daft Punk
Launching the Legacy: Uncover how the writers and filmmakers created this amazing story
Disc Roars: Director Joseph Kosinski rallies the fans at Comic-Con
Visualizing Tron: See the filmmakers bring the world inside the grid to life
Installing the Cast: The stars discuss their unique Tron experience

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