Real Steel Knocks Out Box Office Competition

Real Steel Opening Weekend Number One Box Office

Real Steel knocked out the competition this past weekend at the box office, claiming the number one spot across the globe.  Earning $27.3 million in its opening weekend in the United States and $22.1 million in 19 foreign markets, Real Steel knocked out the competition at the box office.  Breaking into the box office the opening weekend looked close as Real Steel went head to head with the Ides of March and Johnny English.  Replacing Rocky as the top boxing movie debut of all time, Real Steel is more than just an action packed boxing movie, in fact I would go as far as to say it has something for everyone.

Real Steel Robot Arena

Taking place in the near future, the film unfolds around the sport of boxing but with robots.  Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a robot boxing promoter/trainer (really does both in the film) whose life is a bigger mess than the heap of metal he is left with more often than not after fights.  On his last chance Kenton sets out to save the gym he grew up in and whatever he has with its owner, Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly).  Its obvious Bailey loves Charlie from their first interaction in Real Steel, and he is forced to find money for rent so he can keep both her and the gym in his life. Without a pot to piss in, Charlie would sell everything, just to get a shot at one of the top fighting bots in the world; even his own son. Enter Max Kenton, (Dakota Goyo) Charlie’s 11-year-old estranged son, and ticket to buying a champion bot. When money doesn’t buy Charlie everything, he is forced to step into the ring against his own inner demons.

Absorbing it’s audience, Real Steel features a father who builds a relationship with his estranged son as it takes two to make a champion out of an underdog. Atom was a sparring robot left for dead in a junkyard, however Max owed the robot his own life and worked through the night to rescue him. Turning to his friend Finn (Anthony Mackie) Charlie and Max land a fight with Atom and the underdog robot shocks everyone.

Real Steel Executive Producer Steven Spielberg

Did I mention Steven Spielberg was the executive producer?  I couldn’t help but think of the same emotions I felt during Transformers when I thought Bumblebee was “dead” or sent to robot heaven.  Turns out Spielberg was executive producer for Transformers as well, adding his unique ability to create a great story of redemption through a unique underdog, that may be in future sights but keep human emotions present and real.  Real Steel was certainly Spielberg, but director Shawn Levy is another bright star that I will certainly follow, not only on Twitter though.

Director of Real Steel, Shawn Levy

“If you’re my generation, and you make populist Hollywood movies, you are a descendant of Spielberg. I love sports movies, I love underdog stories and I particularly love the ‘Rocky’ series, so there’s no question that as I worked on the script with Gatens, some of those aspects crept in more dominantly,” Levy explains. “The Amblin qualities were probably baked into the DNA, because it was always about a boy from a broken domestic situation finding a creature that would be his path to redemption. That’s ‘E.T.’ And that’s ‘Real Steel.’ And yet I did not realize any of what I just said until I was there on this mountain that we built, Metal Valley, in pouring rain, a truck filled with mud and I shoot a shot of Dakota with a flashlight finding Atom. And the way the rain was falling and the way that flashlight bounced off the robot’s metal up into Dakota’s eyes – I’m like ‘Oh my God, this is a Spielberg moment.’” (NBC Los Angeles)

Partnering with the legend himself, Levy took his intense love for sports, underdogs and Rocky and channeled it into Real Steel, delivering an astounding film that shall remain a top contender in the box office ring for years to come.

Why did I go see Real Steel?  Well I wanted something fun, exciting and personally I love anything that Steven Spielberg is apart of.  A big fan of the Super 8 movie, I found a new respect for the “sci-fi” genius that Spielberg tends to bring out in guys like JJ Abrams and Shawn Levy.  Real Steel was actually my top choice that night and as luck would have it my train was delayed and instead of catching 50/50, my friend and I opted for Hugh Jackman instead of George Clooney.  Sorry George you’re great too but something about robots that just outweighs politics right now.  Really though I love dissecting the meaning behind the films that Spielberg has his hands in, he incorporates every aspect of filmmaking, lighting, actors, characters, sounds, angles, lenses, editing and of course the unfolding of the storyline itself.

Dakota Goyo stars as Max Kenton in Real Steel

Hugh Jackman was amazing in Real Steel, accurately portraying a character who could fight everyone but himself, and in the end that was his biggest downfall.  Dakota Goyo, one word; anomaly.  I needed to know more about this young and upcoming star who stole my heart, so I turned to IMDB.com the Internet Movie Database and found that he is only 12!  Also he starred as young Thor in Marvel’s depiction of the Thunder God.

A populist movie through and through, Real Steel focused around underdog robot Atom and how money does not buy you everything in life.  Even when Charlie and Max went to the arena with Atom, the background was decorated with “underdog” brand names such as Bing, Sprint, and Virgin Airlines.  Although advertising was apparent, you never saw any major names such as Verizon, Google and JetBlue.  Instead Real Steel focused on the underdog always winning, my favorite parts were Dakota Goyo breaking it down with Atom and when Finn (Anthony Mackie) put that cowboy cocky moron in his place.

Charlie, Atom and Max prepare to face off against Zeus

What I love about movies like Real Steel are their ability to let you know that no matter how hard life gets you need to surround yourself with not only who and what you love, but those who love you in return.  When someone believes in you, its obviously for a reason and in Real Steel, Charlie found himself in the blue eyes of his young son and the underdog, Atom. After a few fights and a couple of junk robots, Real Steel reminds us all that although technology can shadow us, it shall never be able to mimic human emotions. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for? Real Steal, definitely double thumbs up.

Real Steel Official Trailer YouTube

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