The project REAL STEEL was supposed to belong to director Peter Berg, he’s been attached as the helmer for quite some time but HANCOCK 2, DUNE, BATTLESHIP, LONE SURVIVOR demand his attention and so Hollywood Reporter said Dreamworks now has given REAL STEEL to director Shawn Levy (Night At The Museum). No bitter note, all is for the best, even the studio is happy. DreamWorks CEO and co-chair Stacey Snider has confidence in Levy who she regards as “a master of combining heart and human stories with fantastic visuals.”
Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian was ultimately a yawn sequel, it was not as fun as its predecessor but it still earned $176 Million domestically. The franchise itself have grossed $1 billion worldwide, so that success alone practically gave an excuse for us to forget that Levy helmed The Pink Panther and Just Married.
REAL STEEL is set “in a near future where human boxing has been outlawed, and heavy, humanoid robots slug it out in the ring instead. Into this world step a father and his estranged teenage son, who train an extraordinary fighter.”
DreamWorks bought the spec from Dan Gilroy in 2003, a number of screenwriters have worked on the script, Jeremy Leven (The Notebook) and Les Bohem (The Alamo), John Gatins (Dreamer) is penning the recent draft.
Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis are among the many producers involved in this project. If you added James Cameron and Peter Jackson into that mix, there’d be a party.
Disney will be the distributor
