Tron DVD Unavailable in Advance of New Tron Legacy

Howard writes, "I had Tron in my Queue for the last 4 months, and for the past month it has been around my #1 spot, but it kept switching between Very Long, Long and Short Wait. Today I noticed it has moved from my Queue to Saved DVDs with an unknown availability wait time.  A call to Netflix left me with "Too many people have it out and they don't know when it will be available now."

It looks like the 1982 version of Tron is out of print, and Netflix has run out of copies. It seems strange that Disney wouldn't re-release the original in advance of Tron Legacy.

Comments

[FearNo1]

That is too bad as I planned to rent Tron before seeing the sequel. Disney probably plans to release a box set for both movies, similarly like was done with The Day The Earth Stood Still. It would be nice if Tron was streamable; it certainly is old enough.

[bonzo]

Same here.
Surprised it took this long for yours to become "Unavailable". It happened to me a few weeks ago.

[Greg]

There's a rumor going around that Disney doesn't want people to see it because of the primitive effects. They think it will hurt the business of the new Tron.

[Gran]

They've decided to delay the release until new tron hits DVD. Then they'll release old tron and new tron at the same time - on both bd and DVD.

[Tim]

I was able to get a copy in March. Looking forward to the new one.

[andrew]

Greg,

I've heard the same thing. I know Disney just paid to have a pretty high quality HD transfer of the movie done (it played on HDNet Movies). There was also a rumored Blu-Ray release date for this month.

I heard though, that Disney had a screening of the restored Blu-Ray with some sort of focus group of 14-30 y/o people. They all basically laughed at the effects. Disney is too scared of people seeing that, and staying home. So they're delaying the disc until after the the move comes out.

[bonzo]

I expect "The Shining" to be the next "Very Long Wait" to go "Unavialable"

[Clydesplace]

I bought a copy a few months ago when the Blockbuster near me had a going out of business sale. It had hardly been watched if it had been watched at all. Cost me about three bucks and both discs were there. Lucky me.

[Tom]

Why not placed in up for streaming??

[david v]

@ andrew - not good. wouldn't be at all shocked if disney pulled a lucas & decided to alter history by redoing the special effects.

focus groups are the worst thing to happen to movies. TRON may be a movie of it's time, but there's a pretty awesome charm to that.

[Del]

I had the same situation, was in my queue for a long time and on a long wait, then gone. I remember seeing it at the theaters when it came out. I wanted to get it to show my kids before seeing the new one.

[andrew]

@david v

I don't expect them to do that. They have produced a Blu-Ray. They did an expensive transfer with the original director who did some slight re-framing and color correction. My guess is that they release the Blu-Ray at the same time as the Tron Legacy Blu-Ray disc, probably in late spring or early summer.

[twinches5624]

"I heard though, that Disney had a screening of the restored Blu-Ray with some sort of focus group of 14-30 y/o people. They all basically laughed at the effects. Disney is too scared of people seeing that, and staying home. So they're delaying the disc until after the the move comes out."

This is stupid if this is true. All anyone has to do is look at the new trailers for Tron Legacy and see the graphics are way better. Plus like another poster said, they already broadcast the HD version on HDNet back in March , so they wouldn't have done that if they were too scared. Download on the torrents if you want to see it.

[Ritch]

"Tron Legacy" is one of the most highly anticipated sequels in years and people are surprised that the DVD for the original movie is unavailable only a few short weeks before release of the sequel?

[Peter]

Don't forget your local library.
I found that they have it, I am in the queue to get it, hopefully b4 the film comes out....

http://sccl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1168399016_tron

http://sccl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/885220016_tron

[A Movie A Day (A.M.A.D.)]

HEAVY METAL is coming out on Blu in January, and my very heavily tattooed friend said basicly that they should redo the film in CGI because there is only so much you can do with an animated film from the 80's (Go tell that to DISNEY about their films from the 30's-40's) but he isn't the fans of films that we are.

The point here, concerning the addition of newly created CGI to the historic CGI of TRON, is NOT to redo a film because of it's age (leave that for the people who think that it's a great idea to remake films and we laugh as it tanks at the box office), the point here is to celebrate the films as they were originally presented to the masses.

Don't mess with the films we know and love (the guys from South Park has already addressed that topic), but don't add stuff to a film to make it appeal to the people who says "Dat looks tupid! Duh!!!!" just because they are those people.

[Jason]

easy enough to download the torrent... I did nt.

[Ivar]

I was able to rent a copy of the 2002 aniversary edition of Tron at a local Blockbuster video store. Try checking online at blockbuster's web page for availability. This is the only place to find a copy other than to buy one a copy on eBay or Amazon.com for at least $60. I am a big fan of Netflix but I would not try to wait for it to become available thru them before the release of Tron Legacy.

[ThaieXcel]

Well, I am boycotting seeing Tron: Legacy because of this unitl it's on dvd and I can view the first one. It's BS, As usual the studios don't have faith in their audiences and think they are stupid. Everyone knows when the original Tron was made, and what to expect from it's effects.