Though they’ve been in many of the same movies over the years, it’s hard for me to believe that Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson have only teamed up in one true buddy movie until now. (That’d be 2005′s Wedding Crashers, for those of you keeping score at home). Perhaps it was their great chemistry in that film, but it seems like they’ve been yukking it up on screen together for years. Well, fans of quick banter and witty one-liners have cause for celebration today: the duo is going to reunite for a movie called Interns, and it sounds right up their alley.

Vulture brings the news, and describes in great detail the series of events that went down to bring this project to fruition. Bottom line: director Shawn Levy (Real Steel) was going to make a Frankenstein movie at Fox and Vaughn was going to make a comedy called Insane Laws for Universal, and both fell apart at the same time. The holes in their schedules lined up, and now the two are working together on Interns, a comedy that Vaughn himself wrote.

Vaughn and Wilson will play forty-ish company guys who both get laid off in a downsizing. Convinced they’ve gone about managing their careers entirely wrong, they resolve to become interns at a Google-like dotcom and start anew. Suddenly, the two old chums are competing against wily, fresh-faced 22 year olds for advancement.

Sounds like a great premise, and a perfect fit for a pair of guys who should have been headlining movies together for the past five years. But that’s coming from a guy who loves Wedding Crashers. What do you think? Are you sick of their schtick, or does this sound good?

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Not content with being attached to James Cameron’s Fantastic Voyage and a new take on Frankenstein, Shawn Levy has set himself to direct Pinocchio prequel The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto.

According to Deadline:

It’s a prequel to the story of ‘Pinocchio’, in which Geppetto endures a life of misfortune, war and adventure, all to be with Julia Moon, his true love. The sweep is reminiscent of ‘Big Fish’ or ‘The Princess Bride’ and it creates a fresh way into the Pinocchio story at a time when revisionist fairy tales are dominating the movie landscape.

The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto will be another fairy tale project to add to the ever-growing list, which already includes two Snow White movies, Disney’s Maleficent with Angelina Jolie, Channing Tatum’s “dark re-imagining” of Peter Pan, and Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson.

Fantastic Voyage, Frankenstein and Geppetto are all set up at 20th Century Fox, and it’s likely that Frankenstein will be the first one to get made with Levy as the studio is eager to get out in front of the several other Frankenstein projects currently in development. Levy’s Real Steel was a step up from his Night at the Museum movies, so hopefully the director continues to improve.

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It will be impossible for Real Steel to avoid comparison to Michael Bay’s Transformers films, since they’re all ostensibly about giant anthropomorphized fighting robots. But despite the surface comparisons, the films don’t actually share very many qualities. The Transformers series is brash and loud, while Real Steel is a classic heartfelt underdog story with the DNA of Rocky, Over the Top, and many more sports movies pumping through its robotic veins. It’s manipulative in all the right ways – similar to this year’s other “against all odds in the ring” movie, Warrior – and even though it’s about robot boxing (I know, I thought it sounded stupid, too!), it’s actually a surprisingly effective story with relationships at its core.

In the near future, human boxing has become too boring for audiences thirsty for destruction. Flesh isn’t capable of sustaining the big hits that crowds demand, so boxers are replaced by robots. Ex-contender Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is down on his luck, touring the country doing robot boxing exhibitions he controls remotely from the sidelines. When his ex-wife dies, Charlie becomes responsible for the well-being of his estranged 11-year-old son, Max (Dakota Goyo). Stuck with the kid for the summer, Charlie soon realizes that Max is a video game nut who knows a thing or two about robots. With Charlie’s prizefighting experience and Max’s busted up old robot Atom (equipped with “shadow” function), the two set out to make it to the top and end up repairing their damaged relationship in the process.

For me, the biggest surprise of Real Steel wasn’t how much I enjoyed it, but that it came from director Shawn Levy. This is the same man who directed The Pink Panther remake, my disdain for which has been well-documented on this site. (I literally didn’t smile the entire time I watched that movie.) He has also directed less offensive fare, including the Night at the Museum movies and Date Night. But this is his first foray into any genre that isn’t comedy, and Real Steel proves the man deserves a chance to direct any genre he wants, since he convincingly pulled off a science fiction/sports/action/drama.

This is a pure underdog tale, and though the setting and broad concept may be original, it’s pretty standard as far as the story goes. But it’s a well-told story with some outstanding visual effects. Levy and his screenwriters make every beat work, and add some real zest to the fight sequences by using real life boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard as the motion capture actor for Atom, Max’s robot on the rise. The blending of CGI and practical effects is outstanding, combining computer created characters with real eight-foot-tall robots.

Hugh Jackman is believable as an ex-boxer, and his character is the kind of reckless rogue you love to hate. Evangeline Lilly plays Bailey, Charlie’s ex-lover, gym owner, and mechanic who helps the father and son team forge their relationship. Thankfully, Lilly separates herself from her “LOST” character Kate Austen; this isn’t a brilliant performance from the actress, but it’s enough to see she’s got potential and good to see she didn’t get pigeonholed into playing the same exact character in everything. And though it’s a well-documented fact that I’m not crazy about kids in movies – they are almost always written as either an annoying hindrance to the protagonist or a sage giver of advice – Dakota Goyo didn’t bother me because his character had perhaps the most common sense of anyone in the film. For the most part, he made good choices and smart suggestions, which is a relief to see on screen every once in a while. There are also some tiny moments for guys like Kevin Durand (in a “LOST” reunion with Lilly) and the inexcusably underutilized Anthony Mackie (Lilly’s co-star in The Hurt Locker…huh), but not enough from either to get excited about.

This movie was one of the biggest surprises of the fall for me, considering I laughed aloud when I saw its trailer for the first time. Despite the ludicrous concept, the story (based on Richard Matheson’s short story) is surprisingly effective and the movie earns all of its moments. To sum it all up in a quote for the poster: Real Steel is the real deal. Until next time…

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Back in February it looked like James Cameron had found a director for his 3D remake of the 1966 sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage in Shawn Levy (Real Steel) after talks with Bourne director Paul Greengrass didn’t work out.

But last week there was a report suggesting Levy may leave the project if he couldn’t find a lead (he apparently wanted Will Smith), and it looks like he is now eyeing another 20th Century Fox movie. Frankenstein.

From Deadline:

As the 20th Century Fox 3D Fantastic Voyage continues to take forever to get underway (script is there, but it’s pricey and they’ve had trouble casting it), I’m hearing persuasively that director Shawn Levy will likely take another Fox film, Frankenstein, as his next effort.

They are beginning creative conversations with an eye toward this filling his winter/spring slot. The studio is eager to get out in front of the seven other Frankenstein films that are percolating all over town.

I’m not sure a Frankenstein movie from Shawn Levy is enough to get me excited, especially when Guillermo del Toro has been talking about making his version for years now. If any Frankenstein movie needs to be made it’s his, but with del Toro busy working on Pacific Rim until 2013 other directors and studios will have time to make their versions before him.

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DreamWorks have released a new featurette for Real Steel, Hugh Jackman’s robot boxing movie. The featurette explains the setting and character situations in the film, and shows how boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard helped out with the robot fight scenes.

Watch below:

Real Steel takes place in 2020 and features Hugh Jackman as an out-of-work fighter who bonds with his estranged son when they go to work rescuing a junkyard find named Atom, and grooming it as a potential champion in the World Robot Boxing league. The movie also stars Evangeline Lilly (Lost) as a friend of Jackman, Dakota Goyo as Jackman’s young son and Kevin Durand (Wolverine) as a boxing promoter

The film is directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) who was offered the job by Steven Spielberg, and opens on October 7th.

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DreamWorks today released a new trailer for Real Steal, otherwise known as ‘that robot boxing movie with Hugh Jackman’. Where as the teaser trailer focused mainly on fighting robots, this trailer shows us more of the father/son relationship. I’m actually surprised we didn’t get a single shot of the kid in the first trailer, considering how important he is to the story.

The studio have already re-hired writer John Gatins to get started on the script for Real Steel 2, so expect a big push from DreamWorks during the run-up to its release in October.

Watch the trailer below:

Real Steel takes place in 2020 and features Hugh Jackman as an out-of-work fighter who bonds with his estranged son when they go to work rescuing a junkyard find named Atom, and grooming it as a potential champion in the World Robot Boxing league. The movie also stars Evangeline Lilly (Lost) as a friend of Jackman, Dakota Goyo as Jackman’s young son and Kevin Durand (Wolverine) as a boxing promoter

The film is directed by Shawn Levy who was offered the job by Steven Spielberg. After directing a bunch of comedies such as Date Night and Night at the Museum he wanted to do something different, so he accepted.

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After holding discussions with directors such as Paul Greengrass (Bourne) and Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk) James Cameron decided in February that Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) should direct a 3D remake of the 1966 sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage.

Now according to Deadline Levy’s top choice for the male lead is Hugh Jackman, who he recently worked with on the boxing robot movie Real Steel.

The plot, while a bit strange, does seem quite interesting. The storyline centers on a dying scientist whose only chance for survival rests with five colleagues who are miniaturized and injected into his bloodstream. Apparently Cameron’s Avatar designers have done everything but build sets for the film, and the aim is to begin shooting later this year.

Whether Jackman will be free to star in the film remains in question. 20th Century Fox are still planning to make The Wolverine at some point and are currently looking for a director, but there’s no start date set so Jackman could potentially shoot another movie before unleashing the claws again.

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Over the past few months James Cameron has been looking at a number of potential candidates to direct a 3D remake of the 1966 sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage. Talks with Bourne director Paul Greengrass didn’t work out, but now according to Deadline Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Real Steel) has signed on to direct.

The plot, while a bit strange, does seem quite interesting. The storyline centers on a dying scientist whose only chance for survival rests with five colleagues who are miniaturized and injected into his bloodstream. Apparently Cameron’s Avatar designers have done everything but build sets for the film, and the aim is to begin shooting later this year.

Levy made his name directing both Night at the Museum movies, and stayed with comedy for Date Night starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell. However Steven Spielberg gave him a shot at sci-fi with Real Steel (that robot boxing movie with Hugh Jackman) which is due for release in October. Fantastic Voyage is said to be CGI-heavy, which Levy should be able to handle following his work with rampaging T-Rex skeletons and fighting robots.

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DreamWorks has released the first teaser trailer for Real Steel, or ‘that robot boxing movie with Hugh Jackman’ as it most commonly known. The story, set in 2020, features Jackman as an out-of-work fighter who bonds with his estranged son when they go to work rescuing a junkyard find named Atom, and grooming it as a potential champion in the World Robot Boxing league.

Watch the teaser below:

It looks like a Transformers movie, but if Michael Bay had them boxing instead of…whatever they do in his movies. The film is directed by Shawn Levy who was offered the job by Steven Spielberg. After directing a bunch of comedies such as Date Night and Night at the Museum he wanted to do something different, so he accepted.

Real Steel also stars Evangeline Lilly (Lost) as a friend of Jackman, Dakota Goyo as Jackman’s young son and Kevin Durand (Wolverine) as a boxing promoter. DreamWorks and Touchstone have set a release date for November 2011.

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Latino Review has word that the first trailer for Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel will debut in front of Tron Legacy on December 17th.

The story, set in 2020, features Jackman as an out-of-work fighter who bonds with his estranged son when they go to work rescuing a junkyard find named Atom, and grooming it as a potential champion in the World Robot Boxing league.

The film is directed by Shawn Levy who was offered the job by Steven Spielberg. After directing a bunch of comedies such as Date Night and Night at the Museum he wanted to do something different, so he accepted.

Real Steel also stars Evangeline Lilly (Lost) as a friend of Jackman, Dakota Goyo as Jackman’s young son and Kevin Durand (Wolverine) as a boxing promoter. DreamWorks and Touchstone have set a release date for November 2011.

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