I can’t decide if this sounds like the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard or if it actually has possibilities.
Ok, so Richard Matheson published a short story in 1956 about a future in which boxing (er, with human combatants) has been criminalized, and androids have taken over the sport. I bet you can already see where this is going, but I’ll tell you anyway.
Naturally, former (human) boxer “Steel Kelly” is trying to field his old and busted robot, named Battling Maxo, in a competition, but ends up disguising himself as Maxo instead. It doesn’t go well for the fake Maxo. See, robots are just stronger and better; machines are our future. Yeesh. I’m sure it went over fine as a Twilight Zone episode in 1963, but would people pay to see a remake on the big screen today?
Maybe I should ask, Would they pay to see it if Hugh Jackman were in it? It’s currently titled Real Steel (Shawn Levy, director of Night at the Museum is working on it), and I’m guessing it will be less like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and more like, oh, I dunno — Cinderella Man meets Wall-E. A tear-jerker that’s really about what it means to be a human family. Woops, did I not mention there’s an estranged 13 year old son involved? Whatever.
I may go ahead and write my Rotten Tomatoes review and save myself the pain of watching…
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