Shawn Levy must have done something right with Real Steel, as Dreamworks is already moving the pieces in place to launch a sequel. New deals will be going out to principle cast and crew, while a script has been commissioned from John Gatins, who wrote the first film (and Coach Carter!). This news comes from Deadline, who suggests very positive feedback from in-house screenings of the film have led to this premature franchise-preparation.
I’ve rarely been as baffled by a trailer as I was for Real Steel, which looked so much to me like the kind of parody trailer that pops up in shows and movies to make fun of Hollywood’s inanity. Something about the absurdity never clicked over to silly fun from holyshit stupid for me. My reaction is apparently not the norm, and maybe I’m just being a sourpuss about it. That said, how the fuck is this not the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie? With the depths to which the studio have plunged for branding opportunities… it would seem so perfectly natural, and a way of tackling the silliness head-on. There is absolutely no way there’s not a reference to the game in a robot design or cute head-popping moment in the film, either way.
These thoughts are the reason I will not be enjoying the many millions that Dreamworks will surely make from this.
If you’re not caught up and are still at a loss as to what this film is about and what I’m blathering on about, Real Steel is slated for October 7th and follows a washed up boxer in a world where robot cock-fighting is the new fad. Taking on the role of promoter and fixing up a trashed fighting robot, Jackman’s character wirelessly fights his way back up to the top or something. A lot of big names like Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Don Murphy have their names on the film, which is the newest from mainstream family panderer Shawn Levy.
I wonder if this strong confidence in Real Steel foreshadows a release date move. Several of this summer’s titles have been moved around to jump in on or avoid the summer month rush. If Dreamworks sees their robot boxing film as a serious franchise starter, then maybe they’ll throw it into the ring as well…
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(via Total Film)
9 comments
I am getting a Small Soldiers vibe from this one. And I too am baffled by it. Everytime I see the trailer I have to stifle my outburst of laughter. If the intent is to be taken seriously as a social commentary futuristic sport film (like the 70’s Rollerball) then maybe I will take it seriously but I doubt it.
Saw the preview for this before Sucker Punch and I can safely say the (admittedly small) audience reaction mirrored that of the author’s. There was much derisive laughter to be heard, and more than a few people called out the Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots connection.
If this film manages to get any deeper than “second-rate Rocky rip-off with big fucking robots” I’m going to be, frankly, astonished.
When I first heard about this all I could think of is the old Lee Marvin episode of The Twilight Zone, where he has a robot boxer and ends up fighting himself.
The “Sucker Punch” crowd thinking that something looks stupid doesn’t really convince me of anything though. After all, they were there to see “Sucker Punch”.
Touché
When this movie was first announced (as a Spielberg movie, I think), it was described as a father and son bonding over sports kind of a movie. If that helps clarify the direction the movie is gonna take at all. I think the initial description was Jackman as a burnout boxer brought back to the big time, new world sort of thing.
Shawn Levy directing this thing means most geeks won’t be giving this one a glance or day in court. And admittedly it does look silly and like a compilation of all the worst futuritsic and robot movies of the last few years. Rollerball remake. Transformers. Some people have a soft spot for Robot Jocks. I’m not one of them.
I don’t think they own the name rights to the original knock-em sock-em robots. About ten years ago I was doing concept work thru an agency that handled a lot of Dreamworks toy, TV and movie crap and Boxing Robots were one of the things they were pushing even then. They kind of framed it as a Pokemon thing with not a single mention of the classic game/toy – like it was an all-new idea.
My room mate said this is exactly like a Heavy Metal story he read when he was a teenager, much like you said, where the trainer ends up stepping into the ring himself, but I think the difference was he had cybernetic/robotic arms? Really curious if that is what’s going to happen in the finale.
And color me Simpleton, but I’m all for some robot-punching action.
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