Disney’s plans for a third “Tron” movie just got big software update. Garth Davis, who made his feature directing debut with 2016’s biographical drama “Lion,” has signed on to direct a new “Tron” movie for the studio, Varietyhas confirmed. The new film, however, will not be a direct sequel to 2010’s “Tron: Legacy” and 1982’s “Tron,” but chart its own path as a new installment in the franchise. Jared Leto, who signed onto the project in 2017, is attached to star, as well as produce with Justin Springer and Emma Ludbrook. Jesse Wigutow wrote the latest version of the script, which remains in development at Disney; the project does not have a greenlight. The original “Tron” was a box office disappointment when it opened in the summer of 1982, but its groundbreaking use of computer graphic imagery — to capture the story of a programmer (Jeff Bridges) who gets zapped inside a CPU mainframe — helped earn the film a cult following. In the 2000s, hungry for a new, lucrative franchise, Disney circled back to the property and began developing a sequel with Joseph Kosinski, then an unknown commercial director whose background in architecture design made him a strong fit for the purely virtual aesthetic baked into the “Tron” franchise. Leto signed on to star in a new “Tron” movie, but until Monday, there hadn’t been much forward momentum for the franchise. Davis has more directing experience under his belt than Kosinski did when he landed “Tron: Legacy”; after “Lion,” which won him the DGA award for best first-time director, Davis made the 2018 biblical epic “Mary Magdalene” with Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix. The new “Tron” installment would be his first major studio tentpole, and his first project driven by visual effects. (SD-Agencies) | 