Tron (stylized as TRON) is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape; it also stars Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes. Tron, along with The Last Starfighter, has the distinction of being one of cinema's earliest films to use extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Plot

Kevin Flynn is a leading software engineer, formerly employed by the computer corporation ENCOM, who now runs a video game arcade and attempts to hack into ENCOM's mainframe system. However, ENCOM's Master Control Program (MCP) halts his progress. Within ENCOM, programmer Alan Bradley and his girlfriend, engineer Lora Baines, discover that the MCP has closed off their access to projects. When Alan confronts the senior executive vice president, Ed Dillinger, Dillinger claims that the security measures are an effort to stop outside hacking attempts. However, when Dillinger privately questions the MCP through his computerized desk, he realizes the MCP has expanded into a powerful virtual intelligence and has become power-hungry, illegally appropriating personal, business, and government programs to increase its own capabilities. Dillinger rose to the top of ENCOM by stealing video games Flynn had created, presenting them to the company as his own. The MCP blackmails Dillinger with information about his plagiarizing Flynn's games if he does not comply with its directives.