After a series of setbacks that have delayed production, fans of the first X-Men spin-off, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, will be happy to know that the film’s sequel, The Wolverine, looks to be very much back on track.

After director Darren Aronofsky exited the project, because proposed production in Japan would have separated him from his family, James Mangold came on board last summer for 20th Century Fox, with credits that already include the impressive Walk the Line and Girl, Interrupted.

The Wolverine has now finally been given an official release date, ComingSoon.net report, and we can now all set down 26th July, 2013 in our mental calendars. With an original script from Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), and a rewrite from Mark Bomback (Die Hard 4.0, Unstoppable), things are looking pretty good all round.

Hugh Jackman will of course be reprising his role as the eponymous Wolverine/Logan, in a film that finds him,

“beginning a forbidden romance with a Japanese woman whose hand in marriage is, unfortunately, promised to another man. Since Logan won’t take “no” for an answer, it puts him into battle with her father and her samurai-sword-wielding brothers and Silver Samurai.”

No word yet on who else will be filling out the cast alongside Jackman, but I’m looking forward to the news when it comes, and quietly keeping my fingers crossed for Ken Watanabe taking the role of the girl’s father. I of course haven’t read the script, but Watanabe is amazing, and would be awesome in any role they give him. Not to mention the fact that he’s the best known Japanese actor internationally, and with good reason.

Jackman should first be filming Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Les Misérables opposite Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway, and The Wolverine should be his next port of call. With a release date now officially set, things are definitely heading in the right direction, and hopefully we’ll have more news to bring you on casting and filming schedules soon.

Everything about Tom Hooper’s upcoming film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s renowned novel, and the subsequent stage musical, Les Misérables, sounds perfect so far.

Russell Crowe will be playing the male co-lead of Jean Valjean, with Hugh Jackman joining him as Inspector Javert, and Anne Hathaway will be bringing to life the female lead, Fantine.

When Hooper announced last month that he wouldn’t be using 3D for the film, he also said that we should expect to soon hear casting news about the roles of Éponine and Cosette, and it looks as though we could well be getting confirmation soon now.

Twitch are reporting, via The Playlist, that Taylor Swift and Amanda Seyfried have been offered the roles of Éponine and Cosette, respectively, after Hooper’s search in the past few months, with Swift beating the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Evan Rachel Wood, and Lea Michele for the role.

It was also announced last month that the cast of the film is expected to sing live on set, in front of the cameras, rather than pre-recording their vocals in a studio, which sounds like such a novel approach to me. Naturally, this means that the actors and actresses will need to be able to sing themselves, rather than use voice doubles. Swift of course has a background in music, but I hadn’t realised that Seyfried has been trained in opera singing herself, so both should come in handy for the hopeful pair.

The rest of the casting so far announced includes Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne, and the production is set to begin this spring. This could potentially cause a scheduling conflict with Swift, who has a tour lined up forAustraliaandNew Zealand, but hopefully this is something they can work around.

Les Misérables is set to make its US debut on 7^th December this year, perfectly lining it up for the Oscars in 2013. With a bit of luck, we’ll be getting it here in theUK at the same time to enjoy it before the end of the year too. I can’t wait. More news as we get it.

Already pencilled in as an Oscar contender with a release at the end of next year, news surrounding Tom Hooper’s follow-up to The King’s Speech with Les Misérables has just been getting better and better.

Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman will be taking the roles of the male co-leads Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert respectively, and Anne Hathaway will be gracing the big screen adaptation in the role of Fantine, the female lead. And joining them will be Eddie Redmayne and Sacha Baron Cohen, who’s really been mixing up his career in the past few years.

We heard back at the start of the month that Hooper had decided against using 3D for the big screen production of the world-renowned novel by Victor Hugo, which of course spawned the musical that has become world-famous in itself.

We now have the very interesting news, courtesy of The Sun via Collider, that the film’s cast will be doing something beyond what is ordinarily asked of film musicals’ casts. Rather than recording their vocals in a studio, and miming the words in front of the cameras, they will instead have their vocals recorded live before the cameras, which sounds like it should definitely bring a sense of immediacy, not to mention authenticity, to the film.

“Unlike most film musicals, the cast will record their vocals live on camera rather than go into a studio first then mime on film to the pre-recorded vocal… First they have to learn the complex songs, then they’ll have to get it right on set in front of the other stars and crew.”

Hooper clearly isn’t making things easy on himself or the cast, but it sounds like a thoroughly interesting path to take with the film, and I’m loving everything that we’ve heard about the project so far. I’ve never seen a musical that’s been made like this, and can’t wait to see how it translates on screen.

Les Misérables will be released in the USon 7^th December next year, and though theUK is yet to have a release date announced, I’d imagine that we’ll be getting it around the same time too. The date really does set it up to be an Oscar contender in the following year’s awards, and it’s not too far a stretch to imagine that Hooper’s production might well see a similar success to his last film.

Just to add a little context/random information, the last weekend of November and the first two weekends of December this year saw Hugo, The Muppets, The Artist, A Dangerous Method, My Week With Marilyn, Shame, Young Adult, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy all released in the States, and pretty much all of them are being talked about as potential Oscar candidates for the Academy Awards next February. So with a little bit of luck, we’ll be saying the same thing about Les Misérables by this time next year. I can’t wait.

In the past year, director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) has seen himself become almost overnight a huge success, with The King’s Speech topping many critics’ and individuals’ Films of the Year lists last year, along with earning himself the Best Director award at the Oscars earlier this year.

His next project, a film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Misérables, is lining up to be pretty damn brilliant, with a cast that currently includes Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, and rumours of Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter to boot.

Talking to the BBC, Hooper has now put to bed the possibility of the project being released in 3D, saying,

“I can definitely announce it’s good old-fashioned 2D.”

He confirmed that he had been doing some testing with shooting it in 3D, but ultimately decided against it, which I think is a good move for him. Justifying the decision, he said that he wanted to make a film that everyone could connect with:

“One of the things I’m most proud of with The King’s Speech is how it managed to do that, whether you’re eight or 80 years old.

“So I slightly worry with 3D that some people will physically struggle with it. If you have a certain type of eyesight it can be more demanding than watching a normal movie.

“With a two-and-a-half hour film, I didn’t want to make something that anyone might think ‘That’s not for me, because I don’t like the medium’.

“I wanted to make a film that would touch everyone. I believe the story is so strong, 3D is not essential.”

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the 3D medium, in part because the 3D glasses on top of my regular glasses just doesn’t feel comfortable and often ends up giving me a bit of a headache, so I can definitely appreciate Hooper’s reasoning here. Granted, I definitely would’ve still gone to see the film however it was released, but I’m glad that he’ll be sticking to 2D, and it’s that much better for ticket prices on our end.

Hooper also added that we should be getting some more casting news soon for the roles of Cosette and Éponine, both of which I believe are child roles, and hopefully we’ll get confirmation of Rush and Bonham Carter’s involvement with those announcements too.

“I’ve never done a film where big star actors are as obsessed with being in it as this!”

The cast is already fantastic, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out when it arrives on the big screen next year. Shooting is scheduled to begin in March, with a release date currently set for December of next year, perfectly lining it up for consideration for the Oscars at the start of 2013. As always, more news as we get it.

Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) has made a huge name for himself both here and in the States with his Oscar-winning direction of The King’s Speech, which won four Oscars and earned a further eight nominations earlier this year.

His follow-up film has been set as an adaptation of Les Misérables, based on the 19th Century novel by Victor Hugo and the subsequent musical adaptation for the stage in 1980.

For a little while now, Golden Globe-nominated actor Hugh Jackman (X-Men) and Oscar winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator) have been attached to the project as the male leads, and Deadline now report that the film has found its leading lady in Academy Award-nominated actress Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married).

With a script from twice Oscar-nominated William Nicholson (Gladiator), everyone on board so far is clearly immensely talented. The story focuses on ex-convict Jean Valjean (Jackman), a man with a dark past in search of redemption. Hathaway will play the leading lady, Fantine, a beautiful young single mother abandoned by her lover; and Crowe will be playing the role of police inspector Javert.

Universal have clearly marked their intentions for the film by setting it in prime time for the Oscar race next year, with a US release date currently scheduled for 7th December, 2012.

Hathaway is currently at work playing Selina Kyle/Catwoman for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming and highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises, due out next year on 20th July, which means we’ll have two films in which Hathaway plays the leading lady to look forward to in 2012.

Hugh Jackman jumps back on to our big screens tomorrow with plenty of metal, but no claws in sight, for his latest flick, Real Steel.

Real Steel is inspired by a short story by Richard ‘I am Legend’ Matheson about a down and out boxer named Charlie Kenton, played in the film by Hugh Jackman. The tale is set in the not too distant future where Kenton has had to face up to the reality that robot boxing matches are the new mega draw and not man-to-man matches. He’s a bit of a rogue who has hit a sleazy down patch and the relationship with estranged son (Dakota Goyo) is also at a low point.

As the story progresses we find out that after the pair discover a discarded sparring robot called ‘Atom’, train it up to dish out some effective metal crunching techniques, and in one scene to actually dance, that their relationship is set to improve tremendously. The whole premise of this trifecta relationship being that if there is one thing that father and son can do well together, it is work together on something to win. In this case a giant, arse-kicking robot that has a very similar personality to a loveable Ivan Drago.

Should you see it? Yes. It’s fun, but a bit mindless. Jackman is great to watch as ever and its broad appeal will connect to a lot of different tastes and ages. But that’s where it also has its rough edges, as it’s basically nothing new and actually quite formulaic. It’s also 127 minutes long, and gets a bit predictive in its cadences, especially as the film nears its end.

The film means well, and does pack some nicely placed emotional punches, but for the film connoisseurs it may be a choice for a DVD night in then a box office evening out. For everyone else who likes to dig into a good ol’ actiony, fun, sci-fi flick at the picture house – Ding-Ding!

***~~ (3/5)

Real Steel hits UK cinemas tomorrow. It’s a great action movie with more robots than you can shake a stick at. We got to speak with it’s director, Shawn Levy at the Big Screen event back in August about the movie, how it came about and what we can expect from it.

Shawn has previously directed Cheaper by the Dozen and Night at the Museum, and Real Steel was a very different movie to shoot that either of the films. In this interview we also get to hear how he learn to use motion capture and what it was like working with legends Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis who Produced the film.

Real Steel is out tomorrow, 14th October.

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HeyUGuys: Can you tell us about how the fight sequences were filmed?

Shawn Levy: All the suits were motion capture, actual boxers. We would then take the raw motion capture data and we would put it through the system, harden the movements and then render it out. Sometimes we would make CG tweaks but 95% of the boxing was motion captured real fighters.

HeyUGuys: So was the movie shot on location or was it all done in a studio?

Shawn: It’s called mo-cap SimulCam B and it’s an offshoot of thee way Cameron did on Avatar. We captured the fights six months before we shot it. The system, then converted every fighter into their robot avatar. Then six months later, I went to Detroit and I would do a shot for instance of Hugh Jackman in the ring. The system then plugs in the fight action from the matching perspective if where I put my live action camera, and that’s what’s called SimulCam B so when I was watching my monitor and operation my camera, I was already seeing Hugh, Noisey Boy and Midas in the frame. That’s why operating is so dynamic as you’re not guessing. You’re operating the fight in your eyepiece.

HeyUGuys: How did you find that as a Director when never using it before?

Shawn: This was an intense learning curve, much like going from Night at the Museum from Cheaper By the Dozen from no effects to many digital effects, and then on this one, from some visual effects to next generation visual effects but after a few weeks, I had it dialled in.

HeyUGuys: You must have a great team of people around you who are able to help with this transition?

Shawn: I have a guy in particular and you can safely say he’s the best First Assistant Director in the world,  his name is Josh McGlaglin. He did Titanic, Avatar, Night at the Museum, Castaway. And when I took on this project, I said to him ‘Zulu’ cos that’s his nickname, I said ‘Zulu, you have to teach me everything!’ and he did. It’s like being in high school or college where you’re sitting in class and you’re completely lost. You’re so lost that you don’t even understand the words that people are using. For me I was so determined not to let it beat me and I then I figured it out.

HeyUGuys: What year is the film set?

Shawn: It’s mentioned on in passing twice. It’s set in 2020. If I had to do it again, I’d have set it a little further in the future but as you’ve seen in the movie, I wanted a world where it looked like our own in which a new sport had evolved. We used the word retro-forward a lot and you’ll notice in the movie that it has a very retro Americano look but it’s got these futuristic touches. Like Charlie Kenton’s truck for instance. The cab of that truck is 50 years old. We bought this truck which is a vintage item, sheared it off behind the steering wheel and we build a futuristic body. It’s got those weird glass panels and we custom built that at great expense but it’s why the movie has a unique design look.

HeyUGuys: What was it like for you getting names like Steve Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis on board for the project?

Shawn: Best ever! When I went to meet with Steven in New York, I haven’t been nervous like that in ten years! But it’s a good nervous! Really, deep down you hope that when you make these movies, you hope that the success of them will earn you the privilege of diversity; that’s at least how I’ve always approached my career. To have that happen, to get a call from such a lofty mentor, to do a movie so completely unlike anything I’ve done, it’s really what I’ve been working for.

Bob isn’t in LA as much but he came in and consulted with me on the robot designs and the truth is, if you’re doing a creature design movie, and you’re two advisors are Zemeckis and Spielberg, it’s pretty amazing company.

HeyUGuys: Did you have visions inside your head of what the robots would look like and the screens that controlled them?

Shawn: The consoles in the corners of the league fights are called the fight deck. They were super cool and super expensive!

HeyUGuys: So were they real consoles which you digitised afterwards?

Shawn: Yes, with double joysticks and keypads and interactive screens. The design of it, some of the ideas were mine, some of them were Tom Myers the designer, we designed 19 robots. But I wanted everyone of them to have their own pallet, their own style of fighting, their own look. And Tom Meyer oversaw an amazing team of illustrators and gave them that visual diversity. But the real triumph in my opinion is Atom’s design is so simple and evocative and I’m really happy with how he turned out because he’s the third lead in the movie.

HeyUGuys: In the background of the film, there were loads of 3D cameras – does that mean you think 3D will be the standard? Also adverts for Virgin Galactic and Xbox 720, how did you go about getting permission to put in all these futuristic brands?

Shawn: Getting the permission of the brands was a nightmare, but really worth it. I think 3D will be much more interwoven into the fabric of our media yes so that#s why I did that. When I went to the Aldo fight in Vegas, a big title fight, I was amazed at how there is music, constant music. And it’s why we have an amazing soundtrack. I screened the movie for Crystal Method, for Timberland, for the Beasties. These venues likes soccer venues are wall to wall adverts so we approached dozens and dozens of adverts. In many cases we asked them not only for the chance to use their logo but also to help them design a future logo.

HeyUGuys: What can we expect from the sequel?

Shawn: When we started screaming the movie, we started seeing the overwhelmingly  response to the movie so Dreamworks asked us John Gatins and I to develop a second movie. We took a while, we took three of four months before we had a take that we thought was worth doing. The next one will explore more of the rivalry between the underworld and the league and we’ll also explore what happens to Zeus and Tak Mashido but it’s a pretty cool next iteration of the story.

HeyUGuys:  Can we expect Real Steel 2 to be in 3D, especially with Spielberg behind it?

Shawn: It could be. Steven certainly in support of 3D but on this movie, he very much thought that 2D was the way to go to keep the focus on the characters. We’ll see how we feel and we’ll also learn about our franchise if it becomes a franchise with the way that people react to the first movie.

Hugh Jackson has been talking up the planned sequel to 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine during his publicity tour for Real Steel. You may recall that Darren Aronofsky was originally at the helm for the continuing saga of the Adamantium-coated one with a script which was set in Japan for the majority of the action.

Journeyman director James Mangold is now calling the shots (working from that original script, thankfully) and Jackman has hinted that the two have discussed a plan to cater for an older crowd, alongside a younger demographic of fans.

“James Mangold and I talked about [an R-rated version] and we’re like ‘Look, let’s not put it off the table.’ There’s even talk about us doing two versions, as in finding a way to do both while you shoot it, which could be really cool. But you need to have a really good reason to exclude those fans.”

This is certainly an interesting idea in trying to appease both camps, but its early stages yet, and this could be Jackman (after the abject failure that was ‘Origins’) playing the hype game, and attempting to create some buzz. It’s hard to imagine trying to shoot two version simultaneously, and although Jackman may be hinting more at the violent content here, tonally, you’d think if they were going that way, the whole script would need to be modified slightly too.

Maybe the two need to concentrate solely on making the best film they can, and forget about driving up the claw-slashing carnage. You only need to refer back to Wolverine’s tremendous mansion battle in X-Men 2 to know that his animal side can be released just as effectively in a PG version.

Via Collider

In case you’ve missed our coverage of Hugh Jackman’s latest film, Real Steel, you can click here to catch up on everything and get up to speed.

And if you’re reading this before midnight on 17th October, then you can click here to enter our Real Steel competition which has a slightly amazing prize of an Xbox 360 with Kinect and Kinect Adventures, and tickets to go see the film to boot!

Opening in IMAX theatres ahead of its wide release in the States earlier this week, the first 100 people at the 12:01am first screening at participating theatres were lucky enough to be given an awesome limited edition poster for the film, absolutely free, Collider report. Definitely a nice little bonus for making the effort to go late at night to the film’s opening.

The film sees Jackman taking the lead with Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) on directing duties, and Evangeline Lilly (TV’s Lost), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), Dakota Goyo (Thor), and Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) all co-star from a script written by John Gatins (Coach Carter).

“A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.”

Real Steel will be released here in the UK on 14th October, and is certainly something to look forward to if you’re a fan of action and ridiculously cool special effects. There’s already been talk of a sequel if the film does well at the box office, so we may well have more Steel to look forward to in years to come. Without further ado, here’s the fantastic IMAX-exclusive poster for the film, followed by two close-ups of the top and bottom halves.

To celebrate the release of Real Steel in cinemas 14th October, Apollo Cinemas and Dreamworks have given us this rather amazing prize to give away! One lucky HeyUGuys reader will win an XBOX 360 console with Kinect and Kinect Adventures. We’ll also give you a game Fight Night Champion and if that’s not enough, Apollo have given us a pair of tickets to see Real Steel at the closest Apollo cinema to your home.

Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy and stars Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie and Kevin Durand. It’ll be with us in the UK 14th October.

A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

Click here to view the rest of our coverage from Real Steel including posters and trailers.

To be in with a chance of winning this rather awesome prize, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who directed the movie, Real Steel?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 17th October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Jennifer Garner’s latest feature film, Butter, might have some people a little bemused and confused by having at its central premise the sculpting of butter – I’d never heard of it before, myself – but it sounds like it does in fact have some potential, and the first clip from the film has been released, courtesy of The Playlist.

In the past few years, Garner’s been tending to stick to fairly light-hearted films, and if you’ve enjoyed her work in films like Arthur, The Invention of Lying, and Juno, then there’s a good chance that you’ll like her in Butter too.

The film has been scripted by newcomer Jason A. Micallef, and directed by Jim Field Smith (She’s Out Of My League), and has a terrific cast that includes Hugh Jackman (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Ty Burrell (TV’s Modern Family), Olivia Wilde (Cowboys & Aliens), Ashley Greene (Twilight), Alicia Silverstone (Clueless), and the young Yara Shahidi (the upcoming I, Alex Cross).

“The story follows Laura (Jennifer Garner), the wife of former butter sculpting champion Bob (Ty Burrell), who tries to take the mantle from her husband only to be thwarted by a young adopted African American girl (Yara Shahidi), who has discovered that she has a natural talent for making art out of butter.”

Whilst I do know a little about American politics, I readily admit that I don’t know enough to fully understand all of the references that Butter will allude to, so I’m embedding a little cheat-sheet from The Playlist about the film:

“[T]he premise serves as an analogy for the 2008 Democratic primaries. In this political allegory, Laura and Bob are obviously Hillary and Bill Clinton, with the the young African girl playing the Barack Obama figure in the story. And in this clip, in which Laura pleads her case to the jury of the butter sculpting competition, the satire is more than apparent. However, Garner’s character also gives a pretty fierce nod to Sarah Palin, and is described on the site as: Wife first, Christian second, American always and Stepmother third.”

The site that the description mentions in the final sentence is the film’s recently launched website, which is thought to be the start of what could well be an Oscar push by The Weinstein Company for Butter, ahead of the awards season early next year. A Twitter account has also been set up under Laura’s name, with some great words of wisdom, like,

“Tip: being thin and pretty is an easy way to quickly and concisely show others that you’re better than them.”

I was a little sceptical of a film about butter at first, but I’m definitely quickly warming to the project now, and this first clip from the film is a great look at what we can expect from it. There’s no word on a release date yet, but if The Weinstein Company do want it to be eligible for the Oscars next year, they’ve at least got to give it a week-long run in Los Angeles, and they’ll either decide to put it on wide release sometime next year, or if we’re lucky, we might see this before this year is out. Without further ado, here’s the great first clip showing Jennifer Garner giving a campaign speech for her butter sculpting. Enjoy.

Real Steel has been in our sights for quite some time now, with the first trailer launching way back in December last year, giving us an insight into what looks to be a really fun film.

Since then, we’ve had two awesome posters that I rather love, and plenty more great stuff to boot, and you can catch up on it all here if you’re coming late to the party.

A brand new clip from the film has been released by the nice guys over at ComingSoon.net, and it shows Hugh Jackman, in the leading role, training what will be his championship boxing contender. And if case you haven’t guessed it already from the title, that boxer is a robot. And that robot looks pretty damn sweet.

“Real Steel stars Jackman as a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.”

The film is directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum), with a screenplay written by John Gatins, who co-wrote the terrific Coach Carter. If you’ve seen that film, you’ll know that Gatins is capable of some incredibly inspirational writing, and judging by the music in this clip, which is so awesome, we can expect to see more of the same in Real Steel.

A further six new clips have also been released for the film over at Collider, giving us a look at some of the spectacular effects the film has to offer with the robots going at each other with a vengeance.

Along with Jackman in the lead and Goyo playing his son, the film also stars Evangeline Lilly (TV’s Lost), Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), and Hope Davis (About Schmidt). With its release date being 14th October, it’s really only a matter of weeks until we get to see the whole thing unfold on the big screen, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.

Until then, here are the great new clips to enjoy. First the inspirational training clip, and then the others embedded all in one. The second video actually has the inspirational clip within it, but it’s just so good I wanted to post it separately. If you’re currently in need of some inspiration, this has the music to lift your spirits.

@HeyUGUysLive was at the UK premiere of ‘Real Steel’ at the Empire Leicester Square last night. There was also some fella there called Hugh Jackman.

HUGE Jackman!!

‘Real Steel’ is based on the short story penned by Richard ‘I am Legend’ Matheson and tells a tale set in 2020 of a ‘down-and-out’ boxer named Charlie Kenton (Jackman) who trains up a fighting robot so Kenton can reclaim his name and former glory. In 2020 Robot fighting is essentially the biggest sport  since Ultimate Fighting. On the journey Kenton learns new things about life, love and happiness – cue the heart wrenching, gutsy power ballads.

The attending crowd were treated to a scale model of ‘Atom’, one of the 8-foot robots featured in ‘Real Steel’, and a comedic performance by another one of Real Steel’s robot fighters – ‘Titan’. Through the medium of dance, sound-effects, sound-bites and some water sprayed from it’s robot eye sockets, ‘Titan’ entertained admirably until the stars showed.

We caught up with HJ and the film’s director Shawn Levy who talked to us about how the movie was unique, especially since we have seen another gigantic robot flick on our screens not too long ago.

“Yeah, its definitely not Transformers!” said Avery. “What we wanted to do was honour the short story and give the robot characters an identifiably human side to allow the audience to see them more then just hunks of metal. We also wanted to make the movie fun, but at the same time, it’s hopefully a tear jerker too.”

It would appear that Real Steel holds ‘More Then Meets The Eye’. Talking about things that hold ‘more then meets the eye’, Hugh Jackman cruised in to a roaring crowd oozing more sex appeal then Prince Charming riding a horse called Charisma into the land of Suave.

Working the crowd with more personal professionalism, kindness and time management then has been seen in a while at these kind of shenanigans, we asked him how he feels about another potential blockbuster – Wolverine 2:

“It’s on the cards, I am helping the writing team get it together so it’s ready and good to go for next year. I am looking forward to it!.”

It’s a pleasure meeting Hugh as he comes across as genuinely grateful for all his success, fortune and respect that he has earned in the industry – we asked “Why?”

“I am genuinely appreciative of everyone coming out tonight, and all the support from people who watch my movies. I suppose I can say that ‘hand-on-heart’ because I started acting late in life and got life experience before being rushed headfirst into success through X-Men and all the other wonderful projects I’ve done since, including Real Steel.”

We shake hands and look each other deep in the eye.

I say “Congratulations”.

He says “Thank you so very much”.

Awesome.

I step back to allow others to field their questions and whims. As I turn to pick up my bag and move along, I overhear Hugh make a bellowing proclamation:

“Australia for the Rugby World Cup!”

Oh, Hugh. You were doing so well.

When inside the cinemas, Jackman gave the following introduction which was recorded by Paris Davis before joining his mum and other family members who were all the audience:

“Hello everyone, thank you so much for coming to the London premiere of Reel Steal or as I like to call it the Jackman family screening. There are at least 30 that I know of here and there may be other relatives that I don’t know. But seriously thank you so much- I know people say Hollywood movies and underdog stories that happen on the screen but couldn’t happen in real life but let’s face it, the canaries are in the premiership league-anything can happen!! Enjoy Real Steel.”

Real Steel hits cinemas on the 14th October. Keep your eyes peeled for our interview with director Shawn Levy nearer the release date.

Check out the images below from the premiere and click here to see the rest of our coverage.

The title of this clip says it all. Here is a nice new clip from Dreamworks’ new movie, Real Steel which hits UK cinemas 7th October. In the clip, we get to see two of the robots in the movie go heasd to head in a fight for their lives. Those two robots are Noisey Boy & Midas! Scroll down now to check out the clip and go and see Real Steel, it’s rather good!

Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy and stars Hugh Jackman​, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackieand Kevin Durand.

A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo​​ ) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

We also have the chance for you to win tickets to a preview screening of the movie. Click here to enter.

Here’s a lovely new set of posters showing four of the robots that you get to meet in Dreamworks’ new movie, Real Steel which is directed by Shawn Levy and stars Hugh Jackman, Kevin Durand, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Dakota Goyo and Hope Davis.

These four robots all have some rather nice names and include Atom (who when I saw the movie thought his name was Adam for two thirds of it! I blame the American accent!), Ambush, Midas and Noisy Boy. All these posters come from the dudes at ComingSoon.net and to them, we thank!

Real Steel will be with us 14th October.

Click the posters below to make them grow.

To celebrate the release of Real Steel on 14th October, Dreamworks have given us two pairs of tickets to the preview screening of the movie on September 19th in London at a West End Venue at 18.30pm (please note screening starts at this time, you must get there before this time should you win).

Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy and stars Hugh Jackman​, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackieand Kevin Durand. It’ll be with us in the UK 7th October.

A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo​) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets to see the movie, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who plays the character Charlie Kenton in Real Steel?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

T&C’s

• Closing date is 15th September at 12.30 GMT
• This competition is not open to employees of HeyUGuys
• The competition is open to UK residents aged 15 years and over, however, if the winner is under 18 years of age they must take a parent or guardian as their guest
• Travel and any accommodation is the responsibility of the winner
• The promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for one of greater or equal value. The decision of the promoter in all matters is final and binding
• The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into
• Tickets are non-transferable
• All prizes are subject to availability
• Details are accurate at time of print

Dreamworks have released this brand new poster for their new robot fighting movie starring Hugh Jackman called Real Steel. Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy and stars Hugh Jackman​, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie and Kevin Durand. It’ll be with us in the UK 7th October.

A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo​) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

Click it to make it go BIG or click here to view all our coverage.

After all of the shenanigans over who would direct The Wolverine, 20th Century Fox’s sequel to the lacklustre and poorly-performing X-Men: Origins: Wolverine (you put that much punctuation in your title, you have only yourself to blame), all seemed settled for the go ahead for principal photography.

Hugh Jackman would of course star as the lamb-chopped, adamantium-lined grumpy one, with James Mangold directing from Christopher McQuarrie’s script.

Apparently, with much of the shooting to take place in Japan (where the sequel is set), there are concerns over the weather and when might be a good time to set the cameras rolling. Later this year had been the plan, but Fox now seem to want to push that back to Spring 2012, with some of the filming possibly taking place in Canada.

To be honest, with the debacle that was the first film hanging over this project, they need to get this right and a little bit of a delay, as long as it doesn’t start to feel like uncertainty over the quality of the script (see MIB3) can only help make memories of the origin story retreat into the distance. We will of course keep you up to date with all of these developments as they unfold.

Source: Deadline.

I was lucky enough to get to see a very early screening of Real Steel a few weeks ago ahead of a great interview that I conducted with director, Shawn Levy at the Empire Big Screen weekend. I’m not allowed to tell you what I thought of it yet but while we wait for the release of the movie on 14th October, Dreamworks have released this new featurette for the movie which gives you a little idea of what you can expect.

It gives you a little look at how they were able to make the robots look so life like as you’ll see in the featurette using forming boxing professional and general boxing legend, Sugar Ray Leonard as their advisor. The movie has a great cast which includes Kevin Durand, Evangeline Lilly, Hugh Jackman, Anthony Mackie, Dakota Goyo and Hope Davis. I’ll stop writing now to give you a chance to watch the featurette but keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks and months for much more from Real Steel.

Click here to view the rest of our coverage from Real Steel including posters and trailers.

If anyone can sell us on a big screen version of Robot Wars then it’s Dreamworks and Hugh Jackman.

This new Japanese trailer for Real Steel unleashes a load of plot along with the obligatory CG robot fighting. What this trailer does better than the previous theatrical trailer is lay out the emotional centre of the film, something which is essential if the film is to be seen as anything more than Rocky VII: Heavy Metal.

Shawn Levy is directing this one with Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie and Kevin Durand standing up alongside Mr Jackman and while it seems like a difficult film to sell this trailer is a good way to start.

Here’s the trailer. Face the screen and click below,

The bleeding cool Bleeding Cool boys get the thank yous for this.