A very high-energy sports film is coming to Netflix this month. The 2011 movie Real Steel is set to start streaming on Netflix on Sept. 24. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly and Anthony Mackie.
Real Steel takes place in the year 2020, and robots replace human boxers. Charlie Kenton (Jackman) plays a former boxer who is now a small-time promoter. He earns just enough money to get robots to box in underground events. He then teams up with his estranged son Max (Goyo) to train and build and championship contender. In a 2011 interview with Collider, Jackman talked about how his kids loved the movie.
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“It’s the first one of my movies they’ve seen,” Jackman said. “If you think about it, there’s been nothing else, really, that’s applicable for them, apart from a couple animated movies I’ve done.” Jackman then said his kids “fully got into the story of these robots, and were cheering for them. I saw both of them have a little tear in their eye. My mother-in-law was in the same screening and she was crying, and my wife. They all loved it.”
Real Steel was a commercial and critical success when released. It has earned 60% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed nearly $300 million worldwide. It even led to an award for Jackman, winning Favorite Action Movie Star at the People’s Choice Awards.
“In our movie the wealthy are not corrupt,” Shawn Levy, director of Reel Steel, said to Screen Rant. “They are arrogant, pompous, exclusionary and elitist. Let me say this as a Canadian who has a moderate understanding of this country but a deep and profound love of all things American lore.” Levy went on to say the “whole notion of an aristocracy is an un-American notion because we believe in the American dream which states that you can be nobody, from nowhere, but if you work your ass off and are willing to outhustle and out-commit the next guy, you can win, you can rise up. “
Since the release of Real Steel, Jackman has continued to be a top actor in Hollywood, starring in four X-Men films, The Greatest Showman, The Front Runner and Bad Education. He will also star in the upcoming film Reminiscence, which also features Thandie Newton and Rebecca Ferguson.
