'Real Steel' Fends Off '80s Remakes At Box Office

Hugh Jackman's latest movie proved to be more than a one-hit wonder. "Real Steel" retained the #1 spot at the box office for a second consecutive weekend, fending off competition from re-workings of '80s classics, "Footloose" and "The Thing" (a remake/prequel). Meanwhile, the combined star power of Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin didn't prevent "The Big Year" from bombing. "Real Steel" raked in another $16.3 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates, which is a 40 percent drop from its opening weekend. The futuristic robot-boxing flick has made $51.7 million to date, against an estimated production budget of $110 million. The remake of high-school-dancing flick "Footloose" was just behind with a $16.1 million debut. Critics were mostly kind to the film, with The Washington Post commenting, "[D]irector Craig Brewer has delivered a largely unobjectionable note-for-note facsimile of Herbert Ross's ode to teenage rebellion, young love and the unfettered joy of movement." The flick has a 72 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. By contrast, roughly 77 percent of film critics trashed the weekend's #3 film, "The Thing," which was conceived as a straight remake but evolved instead into a prequel to director John Carpenter's sci-fi/ horror classic. It opened with just $8.7 million in box-office receipts. "Carpenter's film is scary. This film is just loud," wrote avowed "Thing" fanboy Drew McWeeny on Hitfix.com. Bloody Disgusting went a step further: "Everything that was great about the 1982 version is ignored," the site's Brad Miska wrote. "The Big Year" suffered the second-worst big studio picture opening of 2011 thus far, just behind "Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star." The story about three bird-watchers played by comedic actors Black, Martin and Wilson claimed just $3.3 million to land at #9. George Clooney's "The Ides of March" dipped just 28 percent with $7.5 million in its second weekend. Thanks to its smaller budget, the political drama's $22.2 million total is good news for Sony Pictures. "Dolphin Tale" rounded out the top five with $6.3 million for a $58.6 million total. Next weekend's new releases include "Paranormal Activity 3," "The Three Musketeers" and "Johnny English Reborn." Check out everything we've got on "Real Steel" and "Footloose." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly in "Real Steel" Photo: DreamWorks