Tron and Tron: Legacy 4K SteelBook Unboxing Review

Disney didn’t give physical media fans very much warning before releasing what are arguably two of the most highly anticipated 4K discs of the entire year. 1982’s Tron and its sequel, 2010 blockbuster Tron: Legacy, are known for delivering groundbreaking visuals in their respective times. These are movies where what you see — and, in Tron: Legacy‘s case, what you hear — is more important than anything else. Between that and the ultra-dedicated fan base of the franchise, it’s hard to believe it took this long to get 4K restorations of the films.

Want more like this? Get the latest drops, ratings, reviews, and more with the ComicBook Gear Review newsletter — straight to your inbox.

Videos by ComicBook.com

But at the start of the month, Disney Home Entertainment announced that both would be getting limited edition SteelBook 4K releases. The news came just two weeks ahead of the September 16th release date, and this was sadly another case of Disney and Sony’s supply not even coming close to the demand. Both Tron and Tron: Legacy have been difficult to purchase this week, with pre-orders getting cancelled and sites constantly running out of stock. Hopefully that will change in the near future, especially since both discs deliver on the audiovisual experience fans have been hoping for.

I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of both films to check out and review, and I’ve included a bunch of hands-on “unboxing” photos of the SteelBooks throughout this review. You can check these links here to try and purchase your copy of either 4K disc at Walmart or at Amazon, though the restock has been hit-or-miss.

Since we’ve got the photos in here, I won’t spend a ton of time on the physical appearance of the SteelBooks themselves. The artwork for Legacy could’ve maybe been a bit more creative, but the visuals of these films lend themselves to exciting posters and images. It would be hard for either to look boring and neither one of them do. For my money, though, the original Tron has the better packaging of the two.

If you’re a collector and/or a die-hard fan of the Tron films, these SteelBooks will make great additions to your shelf. It’s also not like there’s a standard version of these releases available yet, so the SteelBook is the only way to get your hands on the 4K disc.

Both movies have been restored to 4K and are presented in DolbyVision and HDR10 with a Dolby Atmos audio track. Their journeys to that 4K presentation, however, were vastly different.

Tron was given a full restoration from the original camera negatives, overseen by director Steven Lisberger. That movie was shot on multiple formats, including 35mm, 65mm, and VistaVision, all of which were used for this restoration. The result is magnificent. Tron‘s picture looks better than it ever has, especially when it comes to The Grid, but the work with the negatives has kept the grain structure intact. Its age is very noticeable, and I mean that as a compliment. This is what we want out of restorations of older movies: Massive visual upgrades that still show off a film’s ages. These should look like you’re watching a film reel in the highest possible quality and Tron pulls that off. The Dolby Atmos track is also fantastic, which shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Then there’s Tron: Legacy, which also looks great on 4K and also had this upgrade overseen by its director, Joseph Kosinski. But Legacy was not captured the same way as the original Tron, and they come from totally different eras of filmmaking, so the result is quite different.

Legacy was shot digitally and has always been a sleek, “unrealistic” looking movie. Instead of using camera negatives (since there were none), the original 2K digital picture was upscaled to 4K for this presentation. I know many of us in the world of physical media collecting aren’t fans of the U-word, but Tron: Legacy is one of those rare cases where it makes a lot of sense on multiple fronts.

Even with great visuals that have aged like wine, the real winner with Tron: Legacy is that audio mix. The sounds and music of Legacy have been its calling card and the folks involved with the 4K were well aware of that. The iconic Daft Punk score is a dream come true on any home surround system, and it manages to never drown out the rest of the film (though one could argue that might actually improve the movie).

The one major downer when it comes to both the Tron and Tron: Legacy 4Ks is the total whiff in the special features department. Tron has more to dive into than Legacy, and it’s understandable that creating new content around a 40-year-old film can be tough. But there’s little excuse for the Legacy disc to be so barren. The features that are included were all from the previous Blu-ray.

With Tron: Ares on the horizon, you’d think this would be a good opportunity to generate some excitement and dive back in to the virtual world of Kosinski’s feature. And there’s the fact that the film just came out 15 years ago, so most everyone involved is still active in the industry. Even an exclusive sneak peek at Tron: Ares would’ve been a nice bonus for those out there still putting up the money for these discs.

Even with some lackluster features, these 4K SteelBooks are the definitive way for fans of Tron to watch either movie. The original has never — and probably will never — look better. The only issue right now is getting your hands on a copy. Hopefully these entirely-too-limited SteelBooks from Disney (see also: Tombstone, Kingdom of Heaven, Master and Commander) will follow what Sony has done with its own exclusive 4Ks. The films featured in the expensive Columbia Classics sets start out available only as part of a set, but are given their own 4K releases some time later. It would make sense for these SteelBooks to be given this period of exclusivity and hype before an eventual “standard” 4K release. We just have to hope that happens sooner rather than later, or there’s a big SteelBook restock on the horizon.

Copies of Tron and Tron: Legacy were provided for the purpose of this review.