In 1982, Walt Disney released Tron, an action-adventure/science fiction movie in which a human became digitised and transported into an evil computer, having to fight his way out. While the actual story can only be described as ludicrous, the cinematography and art direction were most certainly not.  Computer generated graphics barely existed back then, so the set and costume designers worked magic by blending black paint, neon tape, and very expensive (for the time) rendered short scenes and green-screen composites. The gladiator-style battle scene including motorcycles (or ‘lightcycles’) is a classic.

Tron performed fairly at the box office, but still spawned a number of computer games and established itself in as an influential must-see. For the last 30 years the cult of Tron has been growing, and there have been talks about some kind of re-make. Recently it was discovered that Disney had not only greenlit the project, but that filming has already begun in stealth mode. When an unsuspecting audience at Comic Con in San Diego were shown the full trailer for the movie Tron legacy, genre-based social networks (comprising science fiction, fantasy and superhero movies, as well as comics, books, and art fans) exploded. The trailer was deemed spectacular, both for how it pushed the established visuals in new directions, as well as keeping the lead character in the story, played by the original actor.

Disney showed the fans they understood why the fans loved it and a willingness to build on that. Of course the fans returned this gladly by talking about the new film online. Tron had now graduated from a small cult movie to a highly-anticipated event, just by showing a trailer to the right people.

Disney didn’t show the trailer again. For weeks there was only a grainy video filmed on someone’s phone, then posted on YouTube to go by. When an official version was finally posted online, the conversation amongst genre fans started again. For months key pieces of art were revealed, prop models shown at preview events, and mysterious websites started appearing, which last week culminated in a frenzied augmented reality game across 20 cities. Clues were made available on the sites using merchandise from the original Tron movie that directed players to relevant locations.

Again the forums lit up as Disney had inspired social media conversation by building excitement with carefully planned teasers.

Last week they got it wrong.

On Thursday, at the height of the game mentioned previously, a website was created that invited people to register for what was billed as an ‘Imax event’ for the new film. Avatar set the bar in terms of showing previews in this way, as the 15-minute reel was seen nowhere else, and was far more satisfying than a mere trailer. With all the care Disney had taken on Tron Legacy’s promotion, the fans expected something akin, or better.

The fans did not get it. While tickets for every city were gone within minutes, what the fans in London actually got to see was nothing special. All they got was a second trailer for Tron Legacy, clocking just 2 minutes and 20-something seconds.

The trailer itself was not an Imax 3D print, but a large 3D movie print blown up to Imax size. The audio wasn’t tuned for the BFI location, so there was intrusive interference during the deep bass booms. The trailer itself, while revealing that another beloved character would be in the movie played by the original actor, barely showed off the amazing art direction that made the Comic Con such a revelation.

When the lights came on, there was no applause. The event was billed to start at 1.30 PM, and the trailer was shown at 2 PM. Those attending had stood in line for at least 15 times longer than the clips they were shown.

They say leave them wanting more, but in social media, if you don’t reward your fans and followers for putting in the time to interact with you, you will lose them, or worse, they’ll turn on you.

Likewise, in entertainment, it’s said that the sizzle is always better than the steak. But thats no reason to throw away your sizzle by serving up a hamburger. The agency used to market Tron Legacy did well to build up buzz. But by not making their fans feel special, they have now pushed the conversation away from how cool the film is back into the standard gripe of how poor marketing and big studios are. I hope for the agency’s sake that Disney just didn’t deliver a special 15 minute IMAX 3D showreel of the movie in time, or that the behind-the-scenes featurette that was planned somehow got destroyed. The alternative is that in a rush to get the game out, the agency forgot to put some satisfaction at the end.