Shawn Levy confirms he'll be back for Real Steel 2

In today's climate where studios are scared to commit big bucks to even one risky film, it's surprising when a sequel is basically greenlit before the first ever hits theaters. That was the case with Real Steel, Shawn Levy's futuristic robot brawler starring Hugh Jackman as an ex-boxing pro. The film doesn't come out for another two weeks, but we've known for quite awhile that Levy and Dreamworks had already begun prep work on the follow-up.  Now in an exclusive interview with ThePlaylist, Levy confirms that he'll be back, and you can expect the rest of the principle cast to follow...

Levy: “I will produce and direct again, yeah. Hugh’s definitely in and, certainly, I can’t give away too much, but Dakota [Goyo], Evangeline [Lilly] and Hugh [Jackman] are all a big part of the sequel. It is the same characters, the next chapter. It delves into the fallout of the new fame and money that the Kentons are going to have as a result of Zeus-Atom fight. It also delves into something I thought was a cool aspect of the movie that I didn’t have time to get into, which is the class warfare between the underground unsanctioned world of robot boxing and the monetized corporately funded league. The truth is, it’s not unlike the way boxing saw its popularity contested with the rise of a more violent, less rule-bound MMA.”

I saw Real Steel last week and found it to be an effective get out of your seat crowd pleaser, with surprisingly good effects considering the $80M budget. But Levy's got a lot on his plate, and for that matter so does star Hugh Jackman. With Tom Hooper's Les Miserables next on Jackman's schedule and likely The Wolverine after, Levy may turn to one of the two huge projects he's been slated for: Frankenstein, or James Cameron's Fantastic Voyage.

He also put to bed the rumors of internal squabbling between he and Cameron over wanting an A-list star for 'Voyage'. Levy definitely does, while Cameron hasn't really made a commitment either way.


All this sequel talk will be moot if Real Steel isn't a hit, but Levy's films have always managed to find big audiences. They tend to hang around the box office for a long time, as well, and with the combination of Jackman and huge, cool looking robots beating the oil out of eachother, I think Levy's due for another winner.