Disney's Tron Was Banned From The Oscars For 'Cheating' On Its Special Effects

The 1982' masterpiece "Tron" is one of the film industry's best feats where computer generated imagery (CGI) is concerned. The movie's effects were built out frame by frame, using a combination of animation and CGI to create the world Jeff Bridges' Kevin Flynn finds himself in. However, the work was not acknowledged or awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which instead disqualified the project from the special effects category that year at the Oscars, deciding that the extensive computer use was cheating. "Tron" was still eligible for other awards though, and received nominations for sound and costume design.

In crafting the movie, the creative team used backlit animation. This method mixes hand painting with negatives of each frame, allowing it to create the iconic glow of "Tron." Reportedly, over 75,000 frames were used to make the effects in the film. At the same time, the CGI team was planning sequences on paper, and then moving each element multiple times in its software just to get a second of animation. Both components were melded together with the live-action footage to complete "Tron."

"Tron" has had a critical reevaluation since its initial release, cementing itself as a one of the best science fiction projects of all time. It was the start of a larger franchise, which included two more movies, a TV series, and even a ride at Walt Disney World. A significant part of that is because of its special effects. 

"We were the bridge from analogue to digital, and that is a unique thing," director Steven Lisberger shared with The Guardian in 2022. Initially, Lisberger and his team were in an uphill struggle, with production companies uninterested in their computer animation methods. However, "Tron" proved to be the perfect project for Disney, which was struggling to maintain space in the industry at the time, especially without a science fiction film to compete with the likes of "Star Wars."

John Lasseter, who worked in the animation arm of Disney, immediately saw the potential in "Tron" and the work the team was doing. "It absolutely blew me away! A little door in my mind opened up. I looked at it and said, 'This is it! This is the future!,'" Lasseter said to Animation World Magazine in 1998. Disney wasn't initially on board with his idea of using handmade animation more frequently, so he took his ideas to Lucasfilms, which then became Pixar, helping create landmark animated movies like "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," and "Cars."