A largely forgotten blockbuster that’s barely rated Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 60% and failed to crack $300 million at the box office hardly sounds like the sort of project that would generate fervent sequel hopes a decade down the line, but it would be an understatement to say the popularity of Real Steel has soared recently.
The robot boxing adventure spent weeks dominating Netflix’s Top 10 most-watched list last year, with director Shawn Levy admitting he’d considered talking to the studio about mounting a sequel, and he wants his Free Guy star Ryan Reynolds to get in on the action to share the screen with his online arch-nemesis Hugh Jackman.
The longtime Wolverine also revealed that he was thrilled the movie found a whole new audience on streaming, with co-star Anthony Mackie now jumping on the Real Steel bandwagon. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Captain America played promoter Finn in the film, and in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly he offered up a pitch so wild that it sounds awesome.
“I think the possibilities are endless. I always thought about the idea of going to the underground world and seeing what the reality is. The underground boxing circuit is so different than that last fight with all the glitz and the glam and the polish. I feel like you can do a Mad Max meets Real Steel, and I could be Tina Turner.”
Real Steel meets Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome with Mackie as Tina Turner? Sign us up. It’ll be interesting to see if anything comes of the continued sequel chatter, especially when big names like Levy, Jackman, Reynolds and Mackie could potentially end up getting involved should it get a green light.