How Tron: Legacy owes a debt to KH

In 1982, Disney released a movie about computers that utilized the first significant use of CG in film.  And, for the record, that amounted to about 10 or 15 minutes.  Most scenes were done in black rooms with flourecesnt tape, but considering how code had to be entered in line by line, 10 to 15 minutes of basic CG is amazing.

The movie had a devout cult following, but it never really had any significant financial play. 

Until 2005/6 when Kingdom Hearts II came out.   In it, one of the worlds was Tron.  But here's the thing.  Because Kingdom Hearts has a large and different install base, it suddenly introduced a new generation to the world of Tron.  And Tron is a rather interesting world.

The reason why this is important, is then people began to seek out Tron 1.  For example, my family rented it on VHS.  (which should give you some idea of how hard it was to find a copy.)

While I have no proof, I have always found the sudden interest in the Tron property, especially how it was released a few years after Kingdom Hearts.  In addition, it was a continuation of the first one, rather than a new story. 

 Not only was it released a few years after KH2, writers were hired in 2005, Disney hired the director in 2008, and they released the movie in 2010. It takes years to develop a game.  In fact, Kingdom Hearts 2 started development in 2002/3.  Disney has to approve all of the worlds in the game, so they would have known about KH2 using the world.

Admittedly, the story used the Flynn family (who did not appear in Kingdom Hearts 2) but the thought is still there.