Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider have greenlit a Rocky-esque robot tale Real Steel which will star Hugh Jackman.

Shawn Levy (The Pink Panther, Cheaper by the Dozen) is set to direct.

Real Steel was one of 17 projects that Spielberg and Snider took as part of DreamWorks’ split from Paramount last year

DreamWorks initially bought the project, written by Dan Gilroy, in 2005 for a reported $850,000. John Gatins wrote the most recent draft.

The film is based on a short story by Richard Matheson. Matheson also wrote “I Am Legend which has been adapted several times, including The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston in the ’70s, and the most recent adaptation starring Will Smith.

The story centers on a fighter who must reinvent himself when human boxers are replaced by robots. Jackman will play a struggling Robot Boxing promoter who finds a discarded robot that he takes on a winning streak. He also learns that he has a 11-year-old son, and the two begin to bond as the robot fights its way to the top.

While grounded in the father-son relationship, Levy describes the film as a “rousing sports movie” with Jackman’s character “a former boxer who can no longer do the only job he’s good at, and one particular robot that may be his return to grace.”

Production starts in June.

“When we took it with us, we really highlighted it as something we would put the pedal to metal on,” said DreamWorks co-president of production Mark Sourian. “It’s a project that Steven always wanted to do. It just came together rapidly after we left Paramount.”

Source: Variety

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