SOURCE: EMPIRE ONLINE

It would seem that Disney and DreamWorks really are starting to think that they have a contender capable of punching above its blockbuster weight in Real Steel, the Hugh Jackman-starring drama of father/son bonding and robot boxing not even scheduled to arrive until October this year. Why? Steel writer John Gatins has apparently been tasked with starting work on a sequel.

Date Night director Shawn Levy is putting the finishing touches to the film – he told Empire when we talked to him in the editing bay that he was scheduled to deliver the final print some time in May – and it would seem that testing groups are giving the pic a hearty thumbs up. It also got a positive response at this year’s CinemaCon.

Real Steel follows Jackman as former boxer Charlie Kenton, a prize fighter finding his way in a world where his beloved sport is rendered obsolete by powerful brawling ‘bots. Re-inventing himself as a manager/trainer/operator of fighting machines, he’s at his lowest ebb when the son he abandoned comes back into his life. Together, the pair finds an old sparring robot that seems to show some potential and start to reconnect as they work on the new discovery.

Neither Levy nor Jackman are contracted for the sequel, so if it moves beyond the script stage, they’ll likely be getting hefty new deals. But all that will have to wait until after the first movie’s opening weekend, scheduled for October 7.

Take a look at the trailer and our chat with Levy about the movie as it developed. There’ll also be more on the film in an upcoming issue.