Hugh Jackman to play futuristic boxing robot

Ex-Oscar host and sometime movie star Hugh Jackman is to swap the Wolverine claw for, er, boxing gloves in Dreamworks' Real Steel .

Jackman plays an ex-fighter - and struggling father - forced to improvise when boxing as we know it is banned and replaced with robot-on-robot bouts.

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Sounds great. Jackman's due a broad, bona fide action hit and it really is about time we saw small-scale, ideally lo-fi, robots hitting each other hard.

Problem: it's directed by Shawn Levy, the mind behind Cheaper By The Dozen, Night At The Museum, The Pink Panther...

Oh, and the budget is a relatively measly $80m.

Jacko will have to cash in some of his hard-earned Hollywood kudos to steer the movie away from some fluffy father-son kiddy-fantasy with comedy-punch sound effects.