Just over two weeks ago we heard details on sci-fi drama Real Steel from director Shawn Levy, and now Variety have confirmed that Hugh Jackman will indeed by playing the lead. They also have details on the budget and when filming will begin.

The DreamWorks principals have greenlit the “Rocky”-esque robot tale “Real Steel,” to star Hugh Jackman, as their first pic since raising $650 million from both J.P. Morgan Securities and Reliance Big Pictures and an additional $175 million from Disney, which will distrib DreamWorks titles.

Based on a short story by Richard Matheson, “Real Steel” was one of 17 projects that Spielberg and Snider took as part of DreamWorks’ split from Paramount last year.

Insiders say DreamWorks will make the pic on a budget of about $80 million — a far cry from the average price tag for sci-fi event films like “Transformers” or “Avatar.” DreamWorks plans to be the sole financier on the project, though Paramount can opt in for half. No decision will likely be made on Paramount’s end for several months.

Production starts in June.

The story centers on a fighter who has to reinvent himself when human boxers are replaced by robots. Jackman will play a struggling Robot Boxing promoter who finds a discarded robot that always seems to win. He also discovers he has a 11-year-old son, and they bond as the robot brawls its way toward the top.

It will be interesting to see how Shawn Levy, known for directing comedies such as Night at the Museum and Cheaper by the Dozen, will handle a sci-fi drama with a rather moderate budget.

While on the rounds promoting the DVD for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian director Shawn Levy was asked about Real Steel, a sci-fi film that would see Hugh Jackman boxing Rocky-style against robots.

From Sci-Fi Wire:

“Hugh Jackman plays a former boxer who can therefore no longer do the only thing he was ever good at and has to make his way in this new world,” Levy said in an exclusive interview. “It’s faithful to the story in that that story was very much about a down-on-his-luck, slightly desperate journeyman who works in this robot boxing sport and who is desperately needing redemption and one last shot. The movie is more Rocky than Transformers.”

Levy has not cast the main character’s son yet but has a good idea about the robots. “They are most definitely not Transformers, not Terminators, definitely not WALL-Es, either,” Levy said. “Unlike a lot of these others, these are human-built, human-scale fighting machines. They are built for human spectacle. People in this movie have gotten bored with human carnage and human violence. So in the quest for more, more, more, this sport has evolved to this.”

According to Levy Steven Spielberg offered him the movie and after directing a bunch of comedies he wanted to do something different, so he accepted. I would gladly see the movie just based on the plot. The last time I saw robots boxing was in an episode of Futurama, and I wanted more!