A lot of that probably had to do with Jackman and Reynolds’ long-running friendship, which is easily the best of the few good things to come out of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but let’s not overlook Levy’s contribution either. Just like Reynolds and Levy are frequent collaborators, having already made Free Guy and The Adam Project, Jackman and Levy had worked together before as well.

In perfect timing, then, the movie that helped make Deadpool 3 possible is now pummeling its way up the charts on streaming. And that’s something that should help further convince Disney that a belated follow-up or two is well worth it.

Real Steel KO-ing the competition on streaming bodes well for sequel and TV show chances 6i4n4m

Even if you’ve never seem Real Steel, you’ve probably heard of the “robot boxing movie.” In the 2011 sports sci-fi flick, set in the then-far-off future year of 2020, Hugh Jackman stars as a former boxer who builds a robot with his son to compete in the now robot-dominated sport.

Real Steel’s legacy is a funny one, as while it only received mixed responses from critics (sitting at a mere 60% on Rotten Tomatoes), it did earn a sizeable $299.3 million at the box office and has cultivated itself a cult following — particularly among Hugh Jackman diehards. Plus, thanks to Levy’s career boom in recent years, talk of it belatedly becoming a franchise has even gained steam.

In 2021, Levy expressed a hunger to make a sequel. Interestingly, he itted that his main goal in making said movie would be to reunite Jackman and Reynolds on screen. “I will get them together,” he promised. “Whether it’s in Real Steel or another movie, I will direct those two amazing guys and dear friends in a movie together.”

Well, he got his wish, alright! Honestly, D&W is probably what’s cooled Levy’s determination to get Real Steel 2 made, but at least Disney Plus has got other ideas. In 2022, a Real Steel streaming series entered development, which Levy confirmed was still in the works as of late 2023. Maybe the fact that the movie has risen up the ranks to stand as the seventh most popular title on Netflix worldwide (as per FlixPatrol) will convince the studio to fast-track a return to the Real Steel-verse.

Nearly a decade after the cinematic spectacle of Real Steel hit the screens in 2011 fans continue to demand a sequel. The film, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Hugh Jackman, captivated audiences with its unique blend of futuristic robot boxing, heartfelt storytelling, and adrenaline-pumping action. As the years have ed, the desire to explore uncharted territories in the captivating world of mechanized pugilism remains.

Now a fan-made trailer is going viral on YouTube, so could Real Steel 2 actually happen?

What is Real Steel about? 1j4g1v

Real Steel unfolds in an era where human pugilists have been supplanted by fighting robots. Beneath the veneer of mechanized pugilism, the story is a heartfelt exploration of the bond between a father (Hugh Jackman) and his son (Dakota Goyo).

Despite the film’s resounding success at the box office, amassing $264 million against a $110 million budget, it didn’t automatically translate into a greenlit sequel. Even so, it has become a classic to many Gen-Zers and trended in Netflix’s Top 10 during the pandemic. So after 12 excruciating years of longing for a sequel, the question becomes, “Will we ever get a Real Steel 2?”

Will a sequel happen? 4l5b2x

After the release of Real Steel, Levy hinted at a sequel. However, the project seemingly faded as Levy and Jackman pursued different ventures.

Despite their busy schedules, the professional relationship between Levy and Jackman endured. Jackman made cameo appearances in Levy’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and lent his voice to Free Guy. The duo have now reunited for Deadpool 3, raising hopes for Real Steel 2.

The continued interest in Real Steel, coupled with the creative synergy between Levy and Jackman, may hint at a promising future for fans of robot boxing. As fans eagerly await news and developments, we may yet dream of a future in which these metallic warriors once again clash again on the big screen.

The fan-made Real Steel 2 trailer j2e15

But whether or not Real Steel 2 actually happens, at least we now have a taste of what it may look like. In this viral fan-made trailer we see Charlie Kenton re-entering the Robot Boxing Competition, enticed by the allure of a substantial one-million-dollar prize. This “dream trailer” strategically incorporates clips from films like Chappie, Ready Player One, and Bad Education to present a revitalized perspective on the characters and storyline.

The jury’s out on Real Steel 2 ever becoming happening, but fans like this are keeping the franchise alive.

Not content with wiping its own exclusive content from the face of existence as part of the widest-ranging of content purges, Disney Plus has since decided that canceling completed shows was the smartest way to continue trimming the financial fat. Fret not, though, for the Real Steel sequel series is still alive.

For over a decade, demands for a follow-up to the robot boxing cult classic were little more than wishful thinking, which was strange seeing as the movie was within a whisker of earning $300 million at the global box office and scored solid-if-unspectacular notices from critics and crowds alike.

However, when the pandemic happened, Real Steel suddenly became one of the biggest movies on the planet, spending weeks as one of Netflix’s top-viewed titles and refusing to come down. Smelling something in the water, the Mouse House sought to capitalize on its resurgence to announce the episodic continuation in January of last year. Since then, we’ve heard barely a peep.

Unfortunately, that looks to be the way forward until the strikes end, with original director and executive producer Shawn Levy revealing to Collider that while Real Steel isn’t dead, it’s hardly alive and kicking, either, saying “I want it as badly as the lovers of Real Steel want it, so alive, but paused.”

That’ll have to do for now, but everybody who campaigned their hardest to will something into existence can at least sleep soundly knowing that one day the second chapter in the nascent franchise will make it to screens.

2020 was one of the worst years anyone is ever going to experience, with the world being brought to a standstill by the onset of the pandemic. There are very few positives to be drawn from a period when everyone was largely confined to their homes for months on end, but it did lead to a Real Steel sequel series being ordered by Netflix, a turn of events nobody saw coming.

Shawn Levy’s robot boxing blockbuster was the very definition of solid-if-unspectacular when it first hit theaters in October 2011, earning a respectable $299 million at the box office on a $110 million production budget, while it sits right on the 60 percent Rotten Tomatoes threshold for Fresh movies, even if the 73 percent rating is well above average.

Real Steel was added to Netflix in the fall of 2020, and it went on to spend weeks as one of the platform’s most popular titles, so much so that director Levy and star Hugh Jackman felt obligated to thank audiences around the world for revisiting what was quickly becoming a bona fide beloved favorite.

The filmmaker even itted he wanted to get a sequel off the ground with Ryan Reynolds involved, but an episodic offshoot is a more than suitable compromise for those who fell in love with Real Steel during the first wave of COVID, whether it was for the first time or not.

Ironically, the sci-fi fantasy about a father who reluctantly takes custody of his son after trying and failing to sell him to the family of the boy’s dead bother (that’s really the plot) has been trending upwards on a rival streamer, with FlixPatrol revealing Real Steel as punching above its weight on iTunes.

Robots, androids, and artificial intelligence have been a staple of science fiction ever since the earliest days of the genre, and you won’t have to travel too far to encounter one of the aforementioned forms of sentient technology in either books, comic books, video games, movies, or TV shows.

As a perennial staple of futuristic storytelling, robotics has provided incredibly fertile ground for creative minds and filmmakers, even if you’re just as likely to find a sci-fi stinker as you are a calculated classic. That’s the beauty of it, though, the core concept of synthetic life can be twisted any which way anybody likes, such is the broadness of the canvas.

Focusing on a more positive argument to be unfolding across the vast blackness of the internet for a change, Redditors have been gearing up for August 4’s Robot Pride Day (which is apparently a thing) to put forth their candidates for the best robot movies ever made, and things are kicked off by a pair of titles that hold a special place in the heart of many.

The Iron Giant, Wall-E, and Big Hero 6 instantly enter the chat, underlining that animation is among the best methods of telling a robot-infused story. Given the title, don’t be shocked when you discover that the scarily prescient I, Robot has been gaining traction, while the established icons of the genre are all present and ed for, including James Cameron’s two Terminator movies, Blade Runner, and Ex Machina.

Moving into full-blown cult classic territory, Shawn Levy’s Real Steel gets a deserved shout-out, but the scope is so vast that you could literally name upwards of 100 worthy contenders, and nobody would really have much of an argument to make against them.

After becoming one of the biggest movies of the pandemic’s first year, spending weeks on end dominating both the Netflix most-watched list and social media discourse, Real Steel fans got what they wanted when the would-be franchise was revived.

That being said, a Disney Plus series isn’t quite a big screen blockbuster that brings Hugh Jackman’s reformed deadbeat dad and his mechanical buddies back into the thick of the robot boxing action that many people were hoping for, but it’s a whole lot better than nothing.

The initial report outlined that the episodic Real Steel was only in the very earliest stages of development, so it’s no surprise that director Shawn Levy sought to try and dampen the hype and expectation levels when he was asked for a status update during an interview with Collider.

“It can’t be filming this year. We have now a had several actual writer pitch meetings. We are narrowing down the search and the ideas behind the take. There’s a lot of different ways to go. It’s a little bit daunting because a lot of those ways are valid and cool. And which one is the right one? I’m just going to have to go with my gut about what is the right one, because there is no objective arbiter of right and wrong.

I don’t think we’re going to, no. Because even once we pick our writer, we’re then opening a room, we’re breaking a whole season of television. So it’s more of a process. But we are definitely making good headway now. And the way the news broke and took off has been a big boon to the writer search.”

Is Jackman going to sign on to lead a TV show for streaming? Unlikely, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t show up for a cameo role or guest appearance. There’s still no confirmation if it’s going to be a direct sequel of sorts, a retread of the same basic narrative outline, or a continuation set in the same universe, so more concrete details on Real Steel‘s return could be a long way away.

One of the most unexpectedly popular movies of the pandemic’s first year was Shawn Levy and Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel, which found a massive new lease of life among audiences on Netflix.

The robot boxing family drama was a decent-sized hit back when it was first released in 2011, but it positively exploded on streaming. The movie spent weeks entrenched at the very top of the platform’s most-watched list, leading to widespread clamor for a sequel that was addressed by Levy, Jackman, Anthony Mackie, and Evangeline Lilly.

In news that’s going to make a lot of people very happy, Variety reveals that an episodic spin on Real Steel is in the early stages of development for Disney Plus. The report mentions that it’ll be based on the feature film, but doesn’t make it clear whether we’re talking about remaking the story for the small screen, or if it’s a continuation set in the same world.

Either way, it’s the latest attempt by the Mouse House to prove that it can thrive in delivering high-profile exclusive TV content that doesn’t rely on the Marvel Cinematic Universe of Star Wars for inspiration, and you can guarantee that Real Steel will find a huge audience whenever it lands, which unfortunately isn’t going to be for a while.

Evangeline Lilly opened up about potential Real Steel sequel plans during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The 2011 film is about Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), a former boxer left in debt after losing a bet. Following the death of his ex-girlfriend, Kenton takes in his estranged son Max from his maternal aunt and uncle for the summer for the price of $100,000. While spending time together, Kenton decides that he wants to get back to the ring. As he hopes to pay off his debts, Kenton recruits the help of his friend Bailey and Max while they train an out-of-date robot named Atom.

Real Steel, which also stars Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, and Kevin Durand, generated $299.3 million worldwide. Lilly shared on Oct. 12th, while celebrating the movie’s tenth anniversary, the sci-fi didn’t have a sequel because of the “testosterone-driven” market tactic.

She said, “Real Steel is one of my favorite films I’ve ever been a part of. I thought there ought to have been a sequel because the film was so good and it was so beloved. But I know that the reason there wasn’t was because the film was marketed as this testosterone-driven, rah-rah, beat-him-up kind of macho movie for boys between the ages of 18 and 35. But in actuality, it was a beautiful, heartfelt father-son redemption story for the family to watch together. And families didn’t find the film until after it had gone to DVD at that point in time, and then streaming.So it wasn’t marketed to them, but had it been marketed to families, it would have most certainly had a sequel.”

Lilly added that although she is uncertain about the idea of a sequel because of how long it’s been since the release of the original film, she stated that if the director Shawn Levy has something planned, she is all for it.

“People love the film and I’m so happy because it is, like I said, one of my favorite films that I’ve ever done. Because it’s been so long, I don’t know now if I think a sequel would be a beautiful thing or if it would kind of tarnish the purity of what we made back then. It’s been ten years, but I really trust Shawn. I think he’s an amazing director, and he’s one of my favorite directors I’ve ever worked with. So if Shawn is doing something, I’m sure it’s going to be incredible.”

Reel Steel ended its dominating reign on Netflix this month after it was removed from the streaming app.

A largely forgotten blockbuster that’s barely rated Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 60% and failed to crack $300 million at the box office hardly sounds like the sort of project that would generate fervent sequel hopes a decade down the line, but it would be an understatement to say the popularity of Real Steel has soared recently.

The robot boxing adventure spent weeks dominating Netflix’s Top 10 most-watched list last year, with director Shawn Levy itting he’d considered talking to the studio about mounting a sequel, and he wants his Free Guy star Ryan Reynolds to get in on the action to share the screen with his online arch-nemesis Hugh Jackman.

The longtime Wolverine also revealed that he was thrilled the movie found a whole new audience on streaming, with co-star Anthony Mackie now jumping on the Real Steel bandwagon. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Captain America played promoter Finn in the film, and in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly he offered up a pitch so wild that it sounds awesome.

“I think the possibilities are endless. I always thought about the idea of going to the underground world and seeing what the reality is. The underground boxing circuit is so different than that last fight with all the glitz and the glam and the polish. I feel like you can do a Mad Max meets Real Steel, and I could be Tina Turner.”

Real Steel meets Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome with Mackie as Tina Turner? Sign us up. It’ll be interesting to see if anything comes of the continued sequel chatter, especially when big names like Levy, Jackman, Reynolds and Mackie could potentially end up getting involved should it get a green light.

It would be an understatement to say that a lot of strange things happened in 2020, so by the standards of the year, forgotten robot boxing blockbuster Real Steel finding an incredible new lease of life on Netflix is far from the most bizarre scenario to have unfolded over a largely rotten twelve months.

However, making a surprise appearance in the Top 10 most-watched list at the end of September and refusing to budge for weeks on end was an unexpected development nonetheless. The high concept family film stars Hugh Jackman as a terrible father who essentially tries to sell his son so he doesn’t have to raise him, before it pivots into a thinly-veiled Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots riff.

On paper that doesn’t sound like a whimsical adventure, but subscribers couldn’t get enough of it. A decade after earning just a shade under $300 million at the box office and earning solid-if-unspectacular reviews, all of a sudden Jackman and director Shawn Levy were finding themselves getting asked about sequels.

In a new interview, Jackman addressed the resurgence of interest in Real Steel, and itted he was thrilled that the movie had found a place in the hearts of audiences all over the world ten years after first hitting theaters.

“By the way, recently quite a lot, we’re being asked about it. Because during the pandemic, apparently, it was very very highly watched, and it was really nice. A huge hit, like ten years later, Shawn Levy said, ‘Dude, do you see what’s happening out there?’, and I said, ‘No, I don’t see anything’. But it’s really nice to know that a movie which I really loved at the time, a lot of people come up to me in the street and tell me they love that movie. Lots of dads love it. And so it’s really nice to see it get its due. It was just one of the most fun. Working with Shawn on anything is the best, and we remain really good friends.

Levy is riding high at the moment coming off the back of Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy, while Jackman could do with a hit after sci-fi mystery thriller Reminiscence flopped hard this past weekend. The filmmaker teased that he wants Reynolds for any potential second installment, and there’s clearly a lot of people ready to embrace another chapter if anyone steps in to fund the project.

Real-life friends Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds have been embroiled in a ‘feud’ for years, but Real Steel director Shawn Levy is confident he can bring the two stars together in a film.

While promoting Free Guy, a film he directed and in which Reynolds stars, Levy said he will ultimately get Reynolds and Jackman in a movie, whether it’s in a Real Steel sequel or not.

“Well, I’ll say this, Hugh and I definitely are feeling, we’ve never stopped feeling the love for Real Steel, and it’s almost like the volume has been increasing. Hugh and I were together literally last week talking about that,” Levy said. “So I would never say never on that, a sequel for Real Steel. Additionally, I’m friends with Hugh. I’m friends with Ryan. I will get them together. Whether it’s in Real Steel or another movie, I will direct those two amazing guys and dear friends in a movie together.”

Earlier in the week, Levy said he had spoken with Jackman, who starred in the 2011 film, about the rejuvenation of Real Steel after it began streaming on Netflix in September 2020. Levy said they would not rule out a sequel for the movie, although he did it that it felt like the “clock had run out” on capitalizing on the movie’s success.

Although Reynolds had no part in Real Steel, he has maintained a relationship with Jackman since they first worked together on the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a movie in which Reynolds portrayed Wade Wilson for the first time. He would later star in two Deadpool movies as Wilson, and within the movies, Reynolds made jokes at the expense of Jackman’s Wolverine character, although Jackman did make a post-credits scene appearance in Deadpool 2.

With the way the actors have poked fun at each other, it would not be a surprise to see Reynolds or Jackman work together in the near future—even in a Real Steel sequel.

The news arrived yesterday that Vin Diesel was set to remain in business with Universal, the studio behind the all-conquering Fast & Furious franchise, to produce and star in a live-action Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie through his One Race Films banner. Mattel are also heavily involved in the project, which is set to be written by Ryan Engle, who scripted Liam Neeson action thrillers Non-Stop and The Commuter, as well as Dwayne Johnson’s video game adaptation Rampage. In keeping with Diesel’s signature role as Dominic Toretto, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots has been described as a story about family, as a father and son duo form a unique bond with an advanced fighting machine that eventually brings them closer together. Of course, the internet has been quick to point out that we’ve seen this exact movie already, and it was called Real Steel. Real Steel itself was clearly indebted to Mattel’s beloved toys for inspiration, with Hugh Jackman’s deadbeat dad initially agreeing to basically sell his son before they bond over the course of several robot fighting tournaments. Naturally, people were keen to point out the comparisons, and you can see some of the reactions below.

Real Steel exists though. https://t.co/Er9BFfkKM6

— CinemaSins (@cinemasins) April 19, 2021

https://twitter.com/Rohan_312/status/1384193893688700933?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1384193893688700933%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Frock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-universal-vin-diesel-real-steel%2F https://twitter.com/Anime_Ronin/status/1384234316528451589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1384234316528451589%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Frock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-universal-vin-diesel-real-steel%2F https://twitter.com/NotJohn____/status/1384218999207075844?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1384218999207075844%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Frock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-universal-vin-diesel-real-steel%2F

I see Real Steel trending and it goes without saying…

That movie ABSOLUTELY needs a sequel pic.twitter.com/7bmNUg2gIM

— TChalla (@Tchalla43ver) April 19, 2021

https://twitter.com/RedLightning_69/status/1384256641965559812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1384256641965559812%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Frock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-universal-vin-diesel-real-steel%2F

I realize Real Steel was basically just Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, but come on guys… https://t.co/eGIWXzJ6sq

— The One Who Mocks (@KoltonSaurus) April 20, 2021

Uuuggghhh…
They already did this. It's called Real Steel with Hugh Jackman. Uggghhh….https://t.co/gr3FAlsveU

— Aaron Henley (@ahenley2011) April 19, 2021

https://twitter.com/CoveredInAshe/status/1384227453556563970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1384227453556563970%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Frock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-universal-vin-diesel-real-steel%2F https://twitter.com/WitneySeibold/status/1384200386513227783 https://twitter.com/Atreides42/status/1384216003668701187 https://twitter.com/madisoncarter76/status/1384360689070792705

So we gon pretend Real Steel don't exist huh? https://t.co/ZVZWcjpelm

— sketchmasterskillz.bsky (@sktchmstrskllz) April 19, 2021

This is the closest thing we're getting to a Real Steel sequel isn't it? https://t.co/iCzbMtxRZs

— Super Sketch Software (@SketchSuper) April 19, 2021

We already had that movie. It was called "Real Steel." https://t.co/g9w3UoZsGK pic.twitter.com/JfNktDgCb6

— OrionPax09 (@OrionPax09) April 19, 2021

https://twitter.com/PlayerPhase/status/1384226584396124160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1384226584396124160%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Frock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-universal-vin-diesel-real-steel%2F https://twitter.com/Sc0ttst0tts/status/1384239760042958848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1384239760042958848%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Frock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-universal-vin-diesel-real-steel%2F Shawn Levy’s family-friendly blockbuster didn’t earn enough at the box office to generate a sequel, but it’s since gained an appreciation as something of an underrated cult favorite, and it dominated Netflix’s most-watched list for weeks on end after being added to the library last year, leading to hopes that a second installment could happen. It looks like Diesel’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots is getting there first, but social media s would clearly much rather see Real Steel 2.