Is 'Real Steel' really a Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots movie?
Hugh Jackman's boxing robot movie looks suspiciously like the Mattell game.
The trend of movies based on nostalgic board games appears to be a real thing. Peter Berg is directing Battleship for 2012, Ridley Scott's working on Monopoly, Candy Land and an Untitled Ouija Project in development. The sci-fi sports movie Real Steel, to be released Oct. 7, isn't based on game — or is it? The premise Hugh Jackman as former boxer who coulda been a contender, until robotic boxing replaced the real thing. He becomes a trainer and literally finds a boxer on the scrap heap, who becomes a million-to-one shot Rockybot.
It's based on the 1956 Richard Matheson short story "Steel" (adapted for "The Twilight Zone" in 1963), but looks like what a comedy writer would imagine if someone made a Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots: The Movie. As the games' Wikipedia page points out, "The upcoming movie Real Steel revolves around the concept of two differently colored robots pounding each other in a boxing ring." The trailer combines the sappiest boxing cliches imaginable with robots punching each other - and yes, you see one "knock his block off!" Real Steel opens. Imagine a really, really expensive version of the fake Monopoly trailer.