Real Steel
Encyclopedia
Real Steel is a 2011 American science fiction film starring Hugh Jackman
and directed by Shawn Levy
. The film is based in part on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson
, though Levy placed the film in U.S. state fair
s and other "old-fashioned" Americana
settings. Real Steel was in development for several years before production began on June 11, 2010. Filming took place primarily in the U.S. state of Michigan
. Animatronic
robots were built for the film, and motion capture
technology was used to depict the brawling of computer-generated robots and animatronics. Real Steel was publicly released in Australia on , 2011 and in the United States and Canada on , 2011 to mixed-to-positive reviews. It was released in both conventional and IMAX
theaters.
) is a former boxer who owns such a robot, Ambush, competing in unsanctioned matches and in exhibitions with it. At a rural fair, Ambush is destroyed by Black Thunder, a bull belonging to promoter Ricky (Kevin Durand
). Having made a bet that Ambush would win, Charlie now owes Ricky $20,000, which he doesn't pay before leaving.
Charlie is informed his ex-girlfriend has died, and that he must attend a hearing to decide the fate of his preteen son Max (Dakota Goyo
). Max's aunt Debra (Hope Davis
) and uncle Marvin (James Rebhorn
) want full custody, which Charlie gives them in exchange for $100,000, $50,000 of it in advance, on the condition that Charlie take care of Max for three months while the couple are away on a second honeymoon.
Charlie and Max meet with Charlie's childhood friend Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly
), who runs the boxing gym of her deceased father, Charlie's old coach. There, Charlie buys a secondhand World Robot Boxing league (WRB) robot, the once-famous Noisy Boy, and arranges for it to fight the illegal circuit's champion, Midas, at a venue belonging to his friend Finn (Anthony Mackie
). Partly due to both his inexperience with Noisy Boy's combinations and his overconfidence, Charlie ends up losing control of Noisy Boy and Midas destroys it.
Charlie breaks into a junkyard with Max to steal scraps that he can use to put a new robot together. There, Max falls over a ledge, where he is saved from doom by getting snagged on the arm of a buried robot. After Charlie pulls Max back up, Max digs out the entire robot, called Atom. On Max's insistence, Charlie takes it back to Bailey's gym, where they discover Atom is an obsolete Generation-2 sparring bot built in 2014. Atom has been designed to sustain massive damage, but is unable to deal much damage itself. Partly due to both Max's insistence and Charlie needing money, the duo takes Atom to fight an unsanctioned outdoor match against a robot called Metro, and Atom wins, earning back some of Charlie's money.
Max later upgrades it to take vocal commands using spare parts from Noisy Boy and Ambush and successfully convinces Charlie to train the robot. Atom's string of subsequent wins and high-speed maneuvers, which were rarely seen from a robot, attracts the attention of a promoter from WRB, who offers Atom a professional fight against a robot called Twin Cities. Charlie accepts, and Atom wins again, thanks to Charlie's boxing experience allowing him to locate and take advantage of a small tell
in Twin Cities' punch. Revelling in their subsequent novelty attention, Max challenges WRB champion Zeus, designed by genius Tak Mashido (Karl Yune
) and sponsored by wealthy Farra Lemcova (Olga Fonda
), who before the match tried to buy the upstart Atom.
As Max and Charlie leave after the Twin Cities fight, Ricky and his men attack them, and steal their winnings. Feeling guilty, Charlie returns Max to his aunt and uncle, feeling Max will be safer with them, but Bailey convinces him that he can be a better father. Debra allows Charlie to take Max out for one last night, to the Zeus-Atom match. Zeus severely damages Atom while also getting injured, a first for Zeus. Ricky, who had bet Finn $100,000 that Atom would not last the first round, tries to slip away, but is cornered by Finn and his colleagues. In the last round of the five-round match, Atom's vocal receptors are damaged, and Atom must fight in shadow-boxing mode, copying Charlie's moves from the aisle. Zeus, now controlled manually by a furious Mashido, expends energy on trashing the defensive Atom, running low on power and turning sluggish as a result. Atom then begins to pummel Zeus, even knocking the seemingly invincible champion down once, but not winning before the round ends. The judges declare Zeus the winner on points, but that robot's reputation is tarnished, and Atom has become famous as the "People's Champion".
and is based on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson
. The film was produced by Touchstone Pictures
, DreamWorks
, 21 Laps, and Montford/Murphy Productions. The original screenplay was written by Dan Gilroy and was purchased by DreamWorks in 2005 for $850,000, or in 2003 (sources differ). The project was one of 17 that DreamWorks took from Paramount Pictures
when they split in 2008. Director Peter Berg
expressed interest in the project in mid-2009; but went no further. Levy was attached to the project in September 2009, and Jackman was cast in the starring role in November for a $9 million fee. In the same month, Steven Spielberg
and Stacey Snider at DreamWorks greenlit the project. Les Bohem and Jeremy Leven
had worked on Gilroy's screenplay, but in 2009, John Gatins was working on a new draft. When Levy joined the project, he worked with Gatins to revise the screenplay.
With Real Steel having a production budget of , Levy chose to set the film in state fair
s and other "old-fashioned" Americana
settings that would exude nostalgia and create a warm tone for the film's father-son story. Filming began in June 2010, and ended by October 15, 2010. Locations include areas around Detroit, Michigan
, and across the state, including at the Renaissance Center
, the Cobo Arena, the Detroit Fire Department
headquarters, the Ingham County
Courthouse, the former Belle Isle
Zoo, and the Highland Park Ford Plant
.
Jason Matthews of Legacy Effects, successor to Stan Winston
Studios, was hired to turn production designer Tom Meyer's robot designs into practical animatronic props. He said, "We have 26-and-a-half total live-action robots that were made for this film. They all have hydraulic neck controls. Atom has RC [radio-controlled] hands as well ”. According to Jackman, executive producer Spielberg "actually said to Shawn, 'You should really have real elements where you can.' ... Basically if they're not walking or fighting, that's a real robot". For scenes when computer-generated robots brawl, "simulcam" motion capture
technology, developed for the film Avatar
, was used. As Levy described the process, "[Y]ou're not only capturing the fighting of live human fighters, but you're able to take that and see it converted to [CGI] robots on a screen instantaneously. Simulcam puts the robots in the ring in real time, so you are operating your shots to the fight, whereas even three, four years ago, you used to operate to empty frames, just guessing at what stuff was going to look like". Boxing hall-of-famer Sugar Ray Leonard
was an adviser for these scenes.
. The studio also collaborated with Virgin America
to name one of their Airbus A320
s after the film, and one of the film's robots is pictured on its fuselage. On , Jackman appeared on the weekly sports entertainment program WWE Raw
to promote the film. In addition to Jackman making an appearance on the show, WWE named Crystal Method's "Make Some Noise" from the film's soundtrack as the official theme song for their returning PPV, Vengeance
.
Jakks Pacific
released a toy line with action figures based on Atom, Zeus, Noisy Boy, Midas and Twin Cities. The company has also released a one-on-one, playset fighting game with robots in a ring.
Jump Games released a fighting videogame based on the film for Android and iOS devices.
. The film had its United States premiere on , 2011 in Los Angeles at the Gibson Amphitheatre
. It was commercially released in Australia on , 2011, followed by the United States and Canada on , 2011. For the U.S. release, it was originally scheduled for release on , 2011, but it was moved earlier to avoid competition with the first part of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
. The film was released in in the United States and Canada, including screenings. There will also be over screenings in territories outside the United States and Canada, with 62 screening on .
listing 58% of 192 critics giving a positive review, with a rating average of 5.8 out of 10. The website's consensus is, "Silly premise notwithstanding, this is a well-made Hollywood movie: Thrilling and exciting action with just enough characterization". Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a rating score of 56, based on 34 reviews. CinemaScore
polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was an A on an A plus to F scale.
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
rated the film three out of four stars, saying, "Real Steel is a real movie. It has characters, it matters who they are, it makes sense of its action, it has a compelling plot. Sometimes you go into a movie with low expectations and are pleasantly surprised." Conversely, Claudia Puig of USA Today
said that, "Though the premise of fighting robots does seem a plausible and intriguing extension of the contemporary WWE world, Real Steel is hampered by leaden, clichéd moments in which a stubborn boy teaches his childish father a valuable lesson." Lisa Schwarzbaum
of Entertainment Weekly
gave the film an A-, saying director Levy "makes good use of his specialized skill in blending people and computer-made imaginary things into one lively, emotionally satisfying story." James White of the UK magazine Empire
gave the film 3 of 5 stars, saying, "Rocky with robots? It's not quite in Balboa's weight class, but Real Steel at least has some heft. There's barely a story beat among the beat-downs that you won't expect, and sometimes the saccharine gets in the way of the spectacle, but on the whole this is enjoyable family entertainment."
) and all holdovers. It managed first-place debuts in 11 countries including Hugh Jackman's native Australia
($4.2 million).
, Royce da 5'9" (Bad Meets Evil
), 50 Cent
and Foo Fighters
.
Soundtrack of "Real Steel: Original Motion Picture Score" consists of 19 tracks produced by Danny Elfman
; released November 01, 2011, in the US.
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
and directed by Shawn Levy
Shawn Levy
Shawn Adam Levy is a Canadian-American actor, director and producer who directed the comedy films Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum, Date Night, and the sci-fi movie Real Steel...
. The film is based in part on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
, though Levy placed the film in U.S. state fair
State fair
A state fair is a competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in their categories at the more-local county fairs....
s and other "old-fashioned" Americana
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
settings. Real Steel was in development for several years before production began on June 11, 2010. Filming took place primarily in the U.S. state of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Animatronic
Animatronics
Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which seem animate rather than robotic. Animatronic creations include animals , plants and even mythical creatures...
robots were built for the film, and motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
technology was used to depict the brawling of computer-generated robots and animatronics. Real Steel was publicly released in Australia on , 2011 and in the United States and Canada on , 2011 to mixed-to-positive reviews. It was released in both conventional and IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theaters.
Plot
In 2020, humans have been replaced by robots in boxing. Charlie Kenton (Hugh JackmanHugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
) is a former boxer who owns such a robot, Ambush, competing in unsanctioned matches and in exhibitions with it. At a rural fair, Ambush is destroyed by Black Thunder, a bull belonging to promoter Ricky (Kevin Durand
Kevin Durand
Kevin Serge Durand is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Joshua in Dark Angel, Martin Keamy in Lost, Fred J. Dukes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Archangel Gabriel in Legion, and Little John in Robin Hood....
). Having made a bet that Ambush would win, Charlie now owes Ricky $20,000, which he doesn't pay before leaving.
Charlie is informed his ex-girlfriend has died, and that he must attend a hearing to decide the fate of his preteen son Max (Dakota Goyo
Dakota Goyo
Dakota Avery Goyo is a Canadian child actor.Goyo was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Debra, a former model and singer who manages his career, and David Goyo. He has two siblings, Devon and Dallas....
). Max's aunt Debra (Hope Davis
Hope Davis
Hope Davis is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and Next Stop Wonderland....
) and uncle Marvin (James Rebhorn
James Rebhorn
James Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
) want full custody, which Charlie gives them in exchange for $100,000, $50,000 of it in advance, on the condition that Charlie take care of Max for three months while the couple are away on a second honeymoon.
Charlie and Max meet with Charlie's childhood friend Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
), who runs the boxing gym of her deceased father, Charlie's old coach. There, Charlie buys a secondhand World Robot Boxing league (WRB) robot, the once-famous Noisy Boy, and arranges for it to fight the illegal circuit's champion, Midas, at a venue belonging to his friend Finn (Anthony Mackie
Anthony Mackie
Anthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
). Partly due to both his inexperience with Noisy Boy's combinations and his overconfidence, Charlie ends up losing control of Noisy Boy and Midas destroys it.
Charlie breaks into a junkyard with Max to steal scraps that he can use to put a new robot together. There, Max falls over a ledge, where he is saved from doom by getting snagged on the arm of a buried robot. After Charlie pulls Max back up, Max digs out the entire robot, called Atom. On Max's insistence, Charlie takes it back to Bailey's gym, where they discover Atom is an obsolete Generation-2 sparring bot built in 2014. Atom has been designed to sustain massive damage, but is unable to deal much damage itself. Partly due to both Max's insistence and Charlie needing money, the duo takes Atom to fight an unsanctioned outdoor match against a robot called Metro, and Atom wins, earning back some of Charlie's money.
Max later upgrades it to take vocal commands using spare parts from Noisy Boy and Ambush and successfully convinces Charlie to train the robot. Atom's string of subsequent wins and high-speed maneuvers, which were rarely seen from a robot, attracts the attention of a promoter from WRB, who offers Atom a professional fight against a robot called Twin Cities. Charlie accepts, and Atom wins again, thanks to Charlie's boxing experience allowing him to locate and take advantage of a small tell
Telegraph (sports)
In sporting terminology, to telegraph is to unintentionally alert an opponent to one's immediate situation or intentions. The sporting use of the term telegraph draws a direct comparison with the communication device of the same name. "Telegraphing" always refers to a reflexive physical action...
in Twin Cities' punch. Revelling in their subsequent novelty attention, Max challenges WRB champion Zeus, designed by genius Tak Mashido (Karl Yune
Karl Yune
Karl Yune is an American actor.Yune, a Korean American, was born and raised in Washington, D.C.. He studied business, literature, and philosophy before switching to a major in theater at Columbia University's School of Arts, New York, after winning the role of Romeo for a presentation of Romeo...
) and sponsored by wealthy Farra Lemcova (Olga Fonda
Olga Fonda
Olga Tchakova better known professionally as Olga Fonda, is a Russian-born film and television actress and model.-Early life:Tchakova was born in Siberia in what was then the U.S.S.R., and then lived in Ukhta, in the country's Komi Republic...
), who before the match tried to buy the upstart Atom.
As Max and Charlie leave after the Twin Cities fight, Ricky and his men attack them, and steal their winnings. Feeling guilty, Charlie returns Max to his aunt and uncle, feeling Max will be safer with them, but Bailey convinces him that he can be a better father. Debra allows Charlie to take Max out for one last night, to the Zeus-Atom match. Zeus severely damages Atom while also getting injured, a first for Zeus. Ricky, who had bet Finn $100,000 that Atom would not last the first round, tries to slip away, but is cornered by Finn and his colleagues. In the last round of the five-round match, Atom's vocal receptors are damaged, and Atom must fight in shadow-boxing mode, copying Charlie's moves from the aisle. Zeus, now controlled manually by a furious Mashido, expends energy on trashing the defensive Atom, running low on power and turning sluggish as a result. Atom then begins to pummel Zeus, even knocking the seemingly invincible champion down once, but not winning before the round ends. The judges declare Zeus the winner on points, but that robot's reputation is tarnished, and Atom has become famous as the "People's Champion".
Cast
- Hugh JackmanHugh JackmanHugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
as Charlie Kenton - Dakota GoyoDakota GoyoDakota Avery Goyo is a Canadian child actor.Goyo was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Debra, a former model and singer who manages his career, and David Goyo. He has two siblings, Devon and Dallas....
as Max Kenton - Kevin DurandKevin DurandKevin Serge Durand is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Joshua in Dark Angel, Martin Keamy in Lost, Fred J. Dukes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Archangel Gabriel in Legion, and Little John in Robin Hood....
as Ricky - Evangeline LillyEvangeline LillyEvangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
as Bailey Tallet - Hope DavisHope DavisHope Davis is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and Next Stop Wonderland....
as Debra - James RebhornJames RebhornJames Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
as Marvin - Anthony MackieAnthony MackieAnthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
as Finn - Olga FondaOlga FondaOlga Tchakova better known professionally as Olga Fonda, is a Russian-born film and television actress and model.-Early life:Tchakova was born in Siberia in what was then the U.S.S.R., and then lived in Ukhta, in the country's Komi Republic...
as Farra Lemcova - Karl YuneKarl YuneKarl Yune is an American actor.Yune, a Korean American, was born and raised in Washington, D.C.. He studied business, literature, and philosophy before switching to a major in theater at Columbia University's School of Arts, New York, after winning the role of Romeo for a presentation of Romeo...
as Tak Mashido
Production
Real Steel is directed by Shawn LevyShawn Levy
Shawn Adam Levy is a Canadian-American actor, director and producer who directed the comedy films Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum, Date Night, and the sci-fi movie Real Steel...
and is based on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
. The film was produced by Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
, DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
, 21 Laps, and Montford/Murphy Productions. The original screenplay was written by Dan Gilroy and was purchased by DreamWorks in 2005 for $850,000, or in 2003 (sources differ). The project was one of 17 that DreamWorks took from Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
when they split in 2008. Director Peter Berg
Peter Berg
Peter Berg is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock and Battleship. He also developed the television series Friday Night Lights, which was adapted from the film he directed. As an actor...
expressed interest in the project in mid-2009; but went no further. Levy was attached to the project in September 2009, and Jackman was cast in the starring role in November for a $9 million fee. In the same month, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Stacey Snider at DreamWorks greenlit the project. Les Bohem and Jeremy Leven
Jeremy Leven
Jeremy Leven is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. Born in South Bend, Indiana, Leven lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut, Nantucket, and Paris....
had worked on Gilroy's screenplay, but in 2009, John Gatins was working on a new draft. When Levy joined the project, he worked with Gatins to revise the screenplay.
With Real Steel having a production budget of , Levy chose to set the film in state fair
State fair
A state fair is a competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in their categories at the more-local county fairs....
s and other "old-fashioned" Americana
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
settings that would exude nostalgia and create a warm tone for the film's father-son story. Filming began in June 2010, and ended by October 15, 2010. Locations include areas around Detroit, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and across the state, including at the Renaissance Center
Renaissance Center
Renaissance Center is a group of seven interconnected skyscrapers in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. Located on the International Riverfront, the Renaissance Center complex is owned by General Motors as its world headquarters...
, the Cobo Arena, the Detroit Fire Department
Detroit Fire Department
The Detroit Fire Department is the professional fire department that provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The DFD currently operates 120 fire companies out of 47 Fire Stations, located throughout the city, with a total sworn...
headquarters, the Ingham County
Ingham County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 279,320 people, 108,593 households, and 63,744 families residing in the county. The population density was 500 people per square mile . There were 115,056 housing units at an average density of 206 per square mile...
Courthouse, the former Belle Isle
Belle Isle Park
Belle Isle is a island park in the Detroit River, between the United States mainland and Canada, managed by the Detroit Recreation Department. It is connected to the rest of Detroit, Michigan by the MacArthur Bridge...
Zoo, and the Highland Park Ford Plant
Highland Park Ford Plant
The Highland Park Ford Plant is a former factory located in Highland Park, Michigan at 91 Manchester Avenue . The second production facility for the Model T automobile, it became a National Historic Landmark in 1978.-Description:...
.
Jason Matthews of Legacy Effects, successor to Stan Winston
Stan Winston
Stanley Winston was an American visual effects supervisor, makeup artist, and film director. He was best known for his work in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, Aliens, the Predator series, Iron Man, Edward Scissorhands, and Avatar...
Studios, was hired to turn production designer Tom Meyer's robot designs into practical animatronic props. He said, "We have 26-and-a-half total live-action robots that were made for this film. They all have hydraulic neck controls. Atom has RC [radio-controlled] hands as well ”. According to Jackman, executive producer Spielberg "actually said to Shawn, 'You should really have real elements where you can.' ... Basically if they're not walking or fighting, that's a real robot". For scenes when computer-generated robots brawl, "simulcam" motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
technology, developed for the film Avatar
Avatar (film)
Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction motion capture film written and directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver...
, was used. As Levy described the process, "[Y]ou're not only capturing the fighting of live human fighters, but you're able to take that and see it converted to [CGI] robots on a screen instantaneously. Simulcam puts the robots in the ring in real time, so you are operating your shots to the fight, whereas even three, four years ago, you used to operate to empty frames, just guessing at what stuff was going to look like". Boxing hall-of-famer Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...
was an adviser for these scenes.
Crew
- Shawn LevyShawn LevyShawn Adam Levy is a Canadian-American actor, director and producer who directed the comedy films Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum, Date Night, and the sci-fi movie Real Steel...
– director, producer - Susan MontfordSusan MontfordSusan Montford is a Scottish film director, screenwriter, and producer. She is related to the Scottish football commentator Arthur Montford.A film fan as a child, she studied at the Glasgow School of Art where she made short films including Hairpin and Strangers. Her work was shown at the 2000...
– producer - Don MurphyDon MurphyDon Murphy is an American film producer who produced Natural Born Killers and many other films, including Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.-Personal background:...
– producer - John Gatins – screenplay
- Sheldon TurnerSheldon TurnerSheldon Turner is a screenwriter and producer. His produced credits as a screenwriter include The Longest Yard , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning , Up in the Air and X-Men: First Class ....
– screenplay - Dan GilroyDan GilroyDan Gilroy is an American screenwriter.-Career:A graduate of Dartmouth College, he has written the movies Freejack, the Dennis Hopper-directed Chasers, and Two for the Money starring his wife, Rene Russo. He was also one writers to contribute to the defunct film Superman Lives...
– story - Jeremy LevenJeremy LevenJeremy Leven is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. Born in South Bend, Indiana, Leven lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut, Nantucket, and Paris....
– story - Danny ElfmanDanny ElfmanDaniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
– composer
- Mauro FioreMauro FioreMauro Fiore is an Italian-American cinematographer.He was born in Marzi, Calabria and moved to the US with his family in 1971.He attended Palatine High School in Palatine, Illinois, and graduated in 1982. He went on to receive his B.A...
– cinematographer - Dean ZimmermanDean ZimmermanDean Zimmerman is an American professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. He specializes in metaphysics and the philosophy of religion. He earned his PhD in philosophy from Brown University, and has taught at the University of Notre Dame and Syracuse University...
– editor - Tom Meyer – production designer
- John Rosengrant – animatronic robots
- Erik Nash – visual effects supervisor
- Marlene Stewart – costume designer
- Ann Lee Masterson – makeup department head
- David Rubin, Richard Hicks -- casting
Marketing
DreamWorks released the first trailer for Real Steel in December 2010. In May 2011, the studio released a second trailer. While the film features boxing robots, Levy said he wanted to show in the trailer "the father-son drama, the emotion Americana of it". He said, "We are very much the robo-boxing movie, but that’s one piece of a broader spectrum." In addition to marketing trailers and posters, DreamWorks enlisted the British advertising company Five33 to build large physical displays representing the film as it had done for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger TidesPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 adventure fantasy film and the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series...
. The studio also collaborated with Virgin America
Virgin America
Virgin America, Inc. is a United States-based low-cost airline that began service on August 8, 2007. The airline's stated aim is to provide low-fare, high-quality service for "long-haul point-to-point service between major metropolitan cities on the Eastern and West Coast seaboards." San Francisco...
to name one of their Airbus A320
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
s after the film, and one of the film's robots is pictured on its fuselage. On , Jackman appeared on the weekly sports entertainment program WWE Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
to promote the film. In addition to Jackman making an appearance on the show, WWE named Crystal Method's "Make Some Noise" from the film's soundtrack as the official theme song for their returning PPV, Vengeance
Vengeance (2011)
Vengeance was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE that took place on October 23, 2011 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is the 12th event under the Vengeance/Night of Champions chronology and the first event under the Vengeance name since the 2007 edition...
.
Jakks Pacific
Jakks Pacific
JAKKS Pacific, Inc. is a designer and marketer of toys and consumer products, with a range of products that feature numerous children's toy licenses...
released a toy line with action figures based on Atom, Zeus, Noisy Boy, Midas and Twin Cities. The company has also released a one-on-one, playset fighting game with robots in a ring.
Jump Games released a fighting videogame based on the film for Android and iOS devices.
Release
Real Steel had its world premiere on , 2011 in Paris at the Le Grand RexLe Grand Rex
Le Grand Rex is the largest cinema, theater and music venue in Paris, with 2,800 seats. An atmospheric theatre, the cinema features a starred "sky" overhead, as well as interior fountains. The cinema is a landmark of Art Deco style architecture. It features the largest screen in Europe, called...
. The film had its United States premiere on , 2011 in Los Angeles at the Gibson Amphitheatre
Gibson Amphitheatre
The Gibson Amphitheatre is a theatre located in Universal City, California, USA. It seats up to 6,189 for concerts, including 6,089 chairback seats...
. It was commercially released in Australia on , 2011, followed by the United States and Canada on , 2011. For the U.S. release, it was originally scheduled for release on , 2011, but it was moved earlier to avoid competition with the first part of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, commonly referred to as Breaking Dawn, is a 2011/2012 two-part romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon and based on the novel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. The two parts form the fourth and final installment in the The Twilight Saga series...
. The film was released in in the United States and Canada, including screenings. There will also be over screenings in territories outside the United States and Canada, with 62 screening on .
Critical response
Real Steel gained mixed to positive reviews from critics, with the aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
listing 58% of 192 critics giving a positive review, with a rating average of 5.8 out of 10. The website's consensus is, "Silly premise notwithstanding, this is a well-made Hollywood movie: Thrilling and exciting action with just enough characterization". Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a rating score of 56, based on 34 reviews. CinemaScore
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.-Background:...
polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was an A on an A plus to F scale.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
rated the film three out of four stars, saying, "Real Steel is a real movie. It has characters, it matters who they are, it makes sense of its action, it has a compelling plot. Sometimes you go into a movie with low expectations and are pleasantly surprised." Conversely, Claudia Puig of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
said that, "Though the premise of fighting robots does seem a plausible and intriguing extension of the contemporary WWE world, Real Steel is hampered by leaden, clichéd moments in which a stubborn boy teaches his childish father a valuable lesson." Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum is an American film critic. She joined Entertainment Weekly as film critic in the 1990s. She has been featured on CNN, co-host on Siskel & Ebert At the Movies as well as a cultural, theater and television reviewer....
of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the film an A-, saying director Levy "makes good use of his specialized skill in blending people and computer-made imaginary things into one lively, emotionally satisfying story." James White of the UK magazine Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
gave the film 3 of 5 stars, saying, "Rocky with robots? It's not quite in Balboa's weight class, but Real Steel at least has some heft. There's barely a story beat among the beat-downs that you won't expect, and sometimes the saccharine gets in the way of the spectacle, but on the whole this is enjoyable family entertainment."
Box office
Real Steel has earned $82,547,000 in North America, and $159,900,000 in other territories as of November 11, 2011, for a worldwide total of $242,447,000. It had a worldwide opening of $49.4 million. In North America, it topped the box office with $8.5 million on its opening day and $27.3 million in total on its opening weekend, claiming the number one spot, ahead of the other new nationwide release (The Ides of MarchThe Ides of March (film)
The Ides of March is a 2011 American political drama thriller film directed by George Clooney from a screenplay written by Clooney, along with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon. The film is an adaptation of Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North...
) and all holdovers. It managed first-place debuts in 11 countries including Hugh Jackman's native Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
($4.2 million).
Soundtrack
Soundtrack of Real Steel consists of 13 tracks featuring artists including EminemEminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
, Royce da 5'9" (Bad Meets Evil
Bad Meets Evil
Bad Meets Evil is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan that consists of rappers Royce da 5'9" and Eminem . They are best known for collaborating on a self-titled song that appeared on Eminem's major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP in 1999, their early association with Dr...
), 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
and Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
.
- "Fast LaneFast Lane (song)"Fast Lane" is the lead single by hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, a group composed of Royce da 5'9" and Eminem, from their first EP Hell: The Sequel. It's their first single as a group since the 1999 hit "Nuttin' to Do" and the duo's major label debut single, due to a break-up in late 2000...
" by Bad Meets EvilBad Meets EvilBad Meets Evil is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan that consists of rappers Royce da 5'9" and Eminem . They are best known for collaborating on a self-titled song that appeared on Eminem's major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP in 1999, their early association with Dr... - "Here’s a Little Something for Ya" by Beastie BoysBeastie BoysBeastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
- "Miss the Misery" by Foo FightersFoo FightersFoo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
- "The Enforcer" by 50 Cent50 CentCurtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
- "Make Some Noise" by The Crystal MethodThe Crystal MethodThe Crystal Method is an American electronic music duo that was created in Los Angeles, California by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. The Crystal Method's music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video games, and advertisements. The most prominent is the US television...
featuring YelawolfYelawolfMichael Wayne Atha , better known by his stage name YelaWolf, is an American rapper. He is currently signed to Shady Records, Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment and Interscope Records... - "'Till I Collapse'Till I Collapse"Till I Collapse" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his 2002 Grammy-nominated album The Eminem Show. It is the 18th track on the album, and features additional vocals from the late rapper Nate Dogg in the chorus....
" by EminemEminemMarshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
featuring Nate DoggNate DoggNathaniel Dwayne Hale , better known by his stage name Nate Dogg, was an American musician. He is noted for his membership of rap trio 213 and his solo career in which he collaborated with Dr. Dre, Warren G, Tupac and Snoop Dogg on many hit releases. Nate Dogg released three solo albums, G-Funk... - "One Man Army" by The ProdigyThe ProdigyThe Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
& Tom MorelloTom MorelloThomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club... - "Give It a Go" by TimbalandTimbalandTimothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
featuring Veronica - "The Midas Touch" by Tom Morello
- "Why Try" by Limp BizkitLimp BizkitLimp Bizkit is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1995, the group's lineup consists of Fred Durst , Wes Borland , Sam Rivers , John Otto and DJ Lethal . The band achieved mainstream success with their second studio album Significant Other, released in 1999...
- "Torture" by Rival SonsRival SonsRival Sons is an American blues-rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band has digitally self-released one album and also digitally released a self-titled EP through Earache Records before marking their full label debut on the label with Pressure & Time in June 2011.- Before the Fire :Formed...
- "All My Days" by Alexi MurdochAlexi MurdochAlexi Murdoch is a singer-songwriter born in London and raised in Scotland, Greece and France, now living in Berlin.- Background :Murdoch was born in London to a Greek father and Scottish-French mother and raised in Greece, just outside of Athens until he was ten, when his family moved to...
- "Kenton" by Danny ElfmanDanny ElfmanDaniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
Soundtrack of "Real Steel: Original Motion Picture Score" consists of 19 tracks produced by Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
; released November 01, 2011, in the US.
- "Charlie Trains Atom" (1:59)
- "On the Move" (2:39)
- "Into the Zoo" (1:02)
- "Why We're Here" (1:55)
- "Meet Atom" (3:16)
- "It's Your Choice" (1:28)
- "Safe with Me" (2:58)
- "Atom Versus Twin Cities" (3:12)
- "For a Kiss" (0:56)
- "Get in the Truck" (1:13)
- "Bonding" (2:02)
- "Twin Cities' Intro" (1:20)
- "Parkway Motel"" (1:48)
- "This Is a Brawl" (1:49)
- "You Deserve Better" (4:03)
- "Into the Ring" (1:12)
- "Taking a Beating" (1:34)
- "Final Round" (6:54)
- "People's Champion" (2:06)
Sequel
In April 2011, DreamWorks announced it was developing a sequel to Real Steel. John Gatins, who contributed to the screenplay for the first film, was hired to write the screenplay for the second. Director Shawn Levy said in September 2011 a sequel depended on the success of the first film and that he would also direct it. The key actors—Jackman, Lilly, and Goyo—would reprise their roles if the studio proceeded with a sequel, though the production schedule would need to match Jackman's crowded schedule.See also
- "Steel" (The Twilight Zone)Steel (The Twilight Zone)"Steel" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Opening Narration:-Synopsis:In a future where boxing between human fighters has been criminalized, the sport is dominated by fighting robots. Former boxer Steel Kelly manages a B2-model robot called "Battling...
, a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone also based on Richard Matheson's short story - List of sports films – Boxing