Disney Developing Animated 'TRON' Cable Series

I wasn't sure how seriously Disney was taking TRON before Comic Con 2008, when it released the first teaser trailer...three years early. Yes, three years. At the time, TRON Legacy was supposed to be a 2011 movie. Then, of course, we learned the budget was about as big as anything not named Avatar and Disney rather quietly bumped it up a year. So now it opens in December. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Disney wants to milk this one for all it's worth. The plan is to make a cable series targeting kids ages 6-14. "TRON is another example of how we can take advantage of the intellectual property that the studio unit pays tens, if not hundreds, of millions to develop and market," said Disney's Gary Marsh, hopefully at his most corporate. Seriously, I love when executives talk about their upcoming projects in terms everyone can rally behind...like vertically integrating expensive properties. Doesn't that make you feel good? How can we not expect great things? The plan is to push the 10-episode series on Disney XD in the fall of 2011. The House of Mouse is doing the same kind of thing this fall with its newly acquired Avengers property through the Marvel purchase. Like The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the TRON series will be animated, which is a new twist.