'Doesn't Really Move The Needle': Jared Leto's Attempts At Making A Comeback Are Falling Flat

Ever since his performance in 2013's "Dallas Buyers Club," which earned Jared Leto an Oscar for best supporting actor, his acting career has seemingly fallen flat. In October 2025, Leto appeared poised to make a splash at the box office as he starred in "Tron: Ares," the third installment in the cyber-tech action series. Not only did he play the titular character, Ares, but Leto also produced the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor had been attached to the project for years and was given the role as producer back in 2017. Unfortunately for Leto and Disney executives, the movie failed to draw an audience and bombed at the box office with a budget of $180 million. After being paid a hefty sum as both a lead actor and producer on "Tron: Ares," insiders told THR that Leto wasn't really worth leading actor money anymore.

Following the third "Tron" film's lackluster box office performance, fans on Reddit wondered if Leto was to blame. It sparked discussion about the "Suicide Squad" star's place among Hollywood's stars. "Yup, he doesn't really move the needle for the general audience," one Redditor wrote. "A movie like this needs good word of mouth & a lot of people who review movies hate Leto," another theorized.

Around the same time that movie was struggling in theaters, it was announced that Leto had been cast as Skeletor in a live-action "Masters of the Universe." Once again, fans questioned Leto's draw, as one Redditor thought studios were trying to recapture the old magic the actor once brought. Another user bluntly described Leto as "box office poison." According to Puck, Leto himself "wasn't thrilled with" the movie's final cut. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the distaste for Leto had been building for many years.

The public's growing aversion to Jared Leto partially stems from his reputation for rubbing his co-workers the wrong way with his method acting. Leto's on-set acting process was confirmed by the director of "Morbius" in April 2022. To promote the film's release, director Daniel Espinosa spoke to UPROXX about rumors that Leto used actual crutches when not filming, so as to better mimic his physically afflicted character, Dr. Michael Morbius. "Because I think that what Jared thinks, what Jared believes, is that somehow the pain of those movements ... [were] needed, because he's been having this pain his whole life," the director told the outlet. Reports circulated that due to Leto's insistence on using crutches, his bathroom breaks wound up taking much longer than necessary.

When word of Leto's on-set behavior reached X, fans bashed the actor for his bizarre adherence to method acting. "Jared Leto went all method for Morbius only to get 17% on rotten tomatoes?" one wrote. "Never seen more of a lack of self awareness in an actor before," another added. Similar to other Leto-starring vehicles, the film bombed at the box office.

Prior to that role, Leto rubbed some co-stars the wrong way when he employed method-acting tactics while portraying the Joker in 2016's "Suicide Squad." Following the film's release, Leto admitted he was unclear about his future portraying the Batman villain. "I'm a little confused too, but yeah, there are a couple of things happening in the DC world," he told Official Pop Drop in September 2017. By 2019, the "Joker" movie was being released by DC Comics, and Joaquin Phoenix was tapped to play the Clown Prince in place of Leto. Unfortunately, some stars just don't understand that nobody likes them anymore.