Summary
- Real Steel, a sci-fi movie starring Hugh Jackman, has become a popular hit on Netflix in the U.S.
- The movie follows a coach and his son who build a boxing robot to enter lucrative tournaments in the future.
- Real Steel ranks No. 8 on Netflix’s Top 10 English-language movies in the U.S., surpassing releases like See You On Venus and Trolls.
The Hugh Jackman sci-fi movie Real Steel has become a hit on Netflix in the U.S. The movie, which was directed by Shawn Levy, was based on a short story by Richard Matheson and follows a down-on-his-luck coach in the not-too-distant future who teams up with his son to build a robot that can be entered into lucrative boxing tournaments. The movie was originally released in 2011 and earned $299.3 million at the box office off a budget of $110 million.
Netflix has now calculated their Top 10 English-language movies in the United States for the week of November 20 through November 26. Real Steel took No. 8 on the chart, ranking above the new movie See You On Venus and 2016’s Trolls (which has a new sequel, Trolls World Tour, currently in theaters). The only other movies to join the chart for the first time this week are Adam Sandler’s Leo and the Bill Bryson adaptation A Walk in the Woods.
What Is The Future of Real Steel?
Given its large budget, Real Steel wasn’t exactly a substantial hit during its original theatrical run. However, the idea of a possible Real Steel 2 has been teased by various members of the production, including Levy and co-star Anthony Mackie. So far, no proper sequel has come to fruition in the 13 years since the movie’s premiere.
The latest news about a follow-up to Real Steel came in January 2022, when it was revealed that Disney+ was developing a show set in the movie’s universe. A month later, Levy revealed that there were no plans to film the show that year. The dual Hollywood strikes in 2023, in which writers and then actors fought for fair pay, may have delayed development in the meantime, as no major updates have been shared since then. Levy’s attachment to the upcoming Deadpool 3, which also stars Jackman, could also be preventing progress from being made.
In Deadpool 3, Jackman will reprise the character of Wolverine from the X-Men movies.
Now that Real Steel is connecting with the Netflix audience, this could provide another push for the producers behind the property to redouble their efforts to have it return to the screen in some form. A similar occurrence recently happened when Suits‘ Netflix streaming success led to the announcement that a new show in the universe was in development. However, it remains to be seen if the movie continues to draw streaming audiences in a robust enough way to earn this kind of reaction.
Source: Netflix
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Real Steel
- Release Date:
- 2011-10-07
- Cast:
- Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, karl yune
- Rating:
- PG-13
- Runtime:
- 127 minutes
- Genres:
- Science Fiction, Drama, Sports
- Writers:
- John Gatins
- Summary:
- Based on a short story that also served as inspiration for a Twilight Zone episode, Real Steel imagines a world in which the sport of boxing has been taken over by fighting robots. Former boxer Charlie builds a boxing robot with his son Max, in an attempt to regain glory in his sport.
- Budget:
- $110 million
- Studio(s):
- Disney
- Distributor(s):
- Disney
