Early Buzz: Tron Legacy

Hollywood industry insider Jeff Wells has early buzz on Disney's Tron Legacy and it doesn't sound good, but is it even legit?

Wells' "second-hand source" has seen the film and claims it's "a technical marvel, but uninvolving and remote despite Pixar's attempts to infuse emotion into the father-and-son scene."

"The primary source, obviously Pixar-friendly, feels that Team Lassiter (including Toy Story 3 screenwriter Michael Arndt, Incredibles director Brad Bird) "needed to be involved from the beginning, and not consulting after the fact." ... "Tracking is said to be disappointing at this stage, but there's another month to go so here's hoping." ... Kosinki, who was being called "the new Cameron" last summer, "has a bright future," the guys feels, "so this may be regarded as his Alien 3 with better things yet to come."

The source goes on to say that Disney's decision not to re-release the original 1982 film Tron before the sequel's national bow is a huge mistake as "the film is a direct sequel and knowledge of the backstory is necessary." I'm surprised at this last bit as I have heard a lot of the film's plot, and from what I understand, you should be able to follow it fine without having seen the original film. When I was on set in Canada, Disney was very clear about the fact that Tron Legacy can be watched as a stand-alone film with no problems. So this was not a eighth or ninth inning decision.

Also my industry sources have told me the opposite, that the film is currently tracking great for a movie which is still month before the Holiday 2010 release. This makes me question the authenticity of Wells' source on this matter. Also, the fact that the source is giving the impression he's involved at the Pixar-level, or at very least, somewhere inside Disney, yet somehow manages to completely misspell Pixar head John Lasseter's last name, is baffling. I think it's too soon to make any assumptions about the film based on this e-mailed intel.