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US Theatrical Release Date: July 9,
1982
Production Company: Buena VIsta
Pictures
Running Time: 96 mins
Budget Estimate: $20 Million
Worldwide Box Office: $33 Million
Roger Ebert of the Chicago
Sun-Times gave the film four out of
four stars and described the film as "a
dazzling movie from Walt Disney in
which computers have been used to
make themselves romantic and
glamorous. Here's a technological
sound-and-light show that is
sensational and brainy, stylish, and
fun."

TRON (1982)

Plot Synopsis:

Kevin Flynn is a young and gifted programmer who once
worked for the software mega-corporation, ENCOM. Flynn
created several video games on the ENCOM mainframe
while working after hours with the aim of eventually
creating his own games company. Before he was ready
to present his projects to senior management, his work
was stolen by another programmer, Ed Dillinger. Dillinger
locked Flynn out of the system and went on to present the
games as his own work, thus earning himself a series of
promotions.

Three years later, Dillinger is now a senior executive of
ENCOM, and the company is run mainly by the Master
Control Program (MCP), an artificial intelligence that
started as Dillinger's chess program...MORE

Production Notes:

Beginnings
The inspiration for Tron occurred when Steve Lisberger
saw video games for the first time. He was immediately
fascinated by them and wanted to do a film incorporating
them. According to Lisberger, "I realized that there were
these techniques that would be very suitable for bringing
video games and computer visuals to the screen. And
that was the moment that the whole concept flashed
across my mind." He was frustrated by the clique-ish
nature of computers and video games and wanted to
create a film that would open this world up to everyone.
Lisberger and his business partner Donald Kushner
moved to the West Coast in 1977 and set up an animation
studio to develop Tron. The movie's title was based on
the word "Electronic"(elec TRON ic). Originally, the film
was conceived to be predominantly an animated film with
live-action sequences acting as book ends. The rest
would involve a combination of computer generated
visuals and back-lit animation...MORE