Tron!

A Disney feature that broke new ground with its dazzling cg vistas but failed to achieve big box office twenty-five years ago is about to get a sequel:

Commercial director Joseph Kosinski is in final negotiations to develop and direct Tron, described as "the next chapter" of Disney's 1982 cult classic...

In this case, "cult classic" means a movie that is fondly remembered and even iconic (spoofed hilariously on Family Guy, among other places) but didn't burn up the turnstiles a quarter century back. Released at the same time as E.T., the little space alien buried it.

The original...is remembered for its sci-fi gladiator style battles and groundbreaking special effects. It was the first movie to use computer-generated images instead of models and other optical effects in conjunction with live action. The arcade game based on the movie was so popular that it earned more than the movie...

I recall the original Jeff Bridges opus well. Lots of wide-screen computer effects, all put together by a large contingent of Disney's animation staff, which made mattes, created effects, and rendered the computer images one frame at a time. In those days before digital compositing, the film was put together in the old analog way. But it looked great.

If the script had matched the visuals, Disney (circa 1982) would have had itself a mega-hit, instead of just a fondly-remembered cult film.