Matt Damon and Cameron Diaz showed up again, and it looked like Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock were still a item, 'cause they came together to support the premiere.
Spielberg wasn't there this time, but George Lucas totally was.
He's the big boss at Industrial Light & Magic, and Real Steel could totally become one of their signature special effects flicks, so it made sense for him to be there.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who Gilbert had met once at the Oscars, also showed up. Leo's got that undeniable charm, already showin' off that "world's heartthrob" vibe.
Another person Gilbert didn't expect to see was James Cameron.
"You got Michael Ovitz kicked out, Gilbert, nice work, man!" James Cameron was just as straightforward as the rumors said.
Neither of them cared for CAA, which made James Cameron see Gilbert as someone just like him.
He kept goin', sayin', "Talent agencies like CAA should just disappear from Hollywood."
Gilbert just smiled and didn't bite, just gave a "come on in" gesture with his hand: "Welcome to the premiere, come on in!"
James Cameron grunted and walked into the theater.
---
### The Movie Starts
After the red carpet hoopla ended, the fans who couldn't get in slowly left, and inside the theater, Real Steel officially debuted to the audience.
After a short intro, Real Steel officially started screening.
James Cameron sat in his seat, patiently waitin' for the movie to begin.
Along with some sweet country music, beautiful rural scenery from the American Midwest popped up, and a big truck was drivin' down the highway. The main dude, Charlie, showed up pretty quick.
The beginning of the movie was pretty normal, you know, regular pacing, nothing too wild.
The robot Atom made his first appearance in the movie, and the chat between the three little girls and Charlie was pretty funny, makin' the audience in the theater crack up.
Scarlett Johansson, with her mom by her side, also attended the premiere, and it felt super weird to see herself on screen.
"Mom, look, that's me!"
Ms. Sloan watched her daughter on the big screen, also thinkin' it was kinda wild how one lucky break could turn Scarlett Johansson into a little Hollywood actress.
Of course, Scarlett still couldn't compare to Ryan Gosling; his very first role was the second lead, and in some ways, he even had more screen time than the main character.
---
### The Action Kicks In
Pretty soon, the first big scene of the movie hit, and when Atom got totally torn apart by Black Lightning, the crowd in the theater went nuts.
A scene with a bull fightin' a robot totally grabbed the audience, makin' them wanna keep watchin'.
James Cameron was totally focused on the special effects in that scene. The eighty million bucks they spent on this flick wasn't wasted; the robot-on-bull fight looked super real.
Without all the crazy special effects movies from back in the day, audiences in the nineties were naturally blown away by the special effects in a movie like Real Steel.
James Cameron thought the special effects were even better than Jurassic Park, proving once again how fast Hollywood special effects technology was evolving—like, every single day.
In the story that followed, Charlie lost his robot and had to find another one to enter the boxing match.
To get the cash for a new robot, he even made a deal, gettin' a hundred grand from his ex-sister's husband in exchange for giving up custody of his son.
But first, he had to spend two months of vacation with his son, whom he'd never even met.
It was a pretty typical commercial movie setup, but it was also super effective. Charlie wasn't perfect; he was actually a pretty messed-up and irresponsible dad.
Besides the robot fights, the father-son interaction was also pretty cool and a big highlight.
Ryan Gosling's performance was spot-on, and he had great chemistry with Hugh Jackman. Naomi Watts totally nailed the "eye candy" role and looked great.
But none of those human actors could hold a candle to the boxing robots.
---
### Robot Fights and Family Bonds
Soon enough, the first real robot fight arrived: Charlie's noisy kid, Atom, versus the master robot, Bao Master.
Jackie Chan made another appearance in a Hollywood movie, playin' a robot operator.
Watching Atom get trashed by Bao Master on the screen, George Lucas, who was also at the premiere, felt pretty impressed.
He's the owner of Industrial Light & Magic, so of course he knew a thing or two about the special effects in Real Steel.
You could say Gilbert was also a director who was all about the tech. Even though he looked young, he was already super skilled at using visual effects in movies.
Plus, the design of these robots was really cool. This movie might not be a huge box office hit, but the profits from its merchandise were gonna be insane.
That was George Lucas's call, and actually, Disney and Warner Bros. really did focus on the merchandise for profit.
For these kinds of movies, the box office usually isn't the main thing; it's all about the merch.
---
### The Underdog Story
As Max got into trouble and the scrapped robot, Atom, saved him, the movie really started to pick up speed.
Atom was busted, and Charlie didn't have a good robot, so Max took Atom to enter a boxing match. But because Atom wasn't good enough, he could only go to amateur and underground fights.
But get this, even though Atom was an old robot, he was surprisingly good at fighting and quickly became famous.
And Charlie and Max's father-son bond also grew stronger during this time.
Later, they actually got an invite to a professional boxing league, so they could go compete in the robot professional boxing league.
The first match was against the famous Twin City Warrior.
Charlize Theron was nervously waiting, and pretty soon, her character showed up.
Seriously, when she appeared, she looked totally stunning. Wearing a white bodycon skirt, long legs, and a perfect face, a lot of guys in the audience were instantly charmed.
Even though she seemed like a bad guy, who cares when Charlize Theron is that hot?!
---
### The Final Showdown
The Twin City Warrior boxing match was also a big deal, and it got everyone hyped up.
Leo in his seat couldn't help but throw punches along with the movie, shouting, "Whoa, this movie is so cool, I totally love Atom!"
Matt Damon happened to be sitting with Leo, and he had a different opinion: "I still like the noisy kid."
"But he got knocked out, man," Leo said. "I'm gonna buy an Atom for my collection."
Actually, Leo wasn't the only one thinkin' that; among the fans at the premiere, the ones with money were already plannin' a trip to the merch store.
After defeating Twin City Warrior, Max challenged the strongest robot, Zeus.
The father and son went through a little rough patch but made up, and their bond became stronger than ever.
---
### Standing Ovation
Soon, the final boxing match with Zeus arrived. Everyone thought Atom wouldn't last a round; it was pretty much a guaranteed loss.
During the filming of this match, they even hired professional boxing commentators to do the voice-over, which made it super intense.
But get this, the final big fight was awesome and exciting, and the little Atom actually went toe-to-toe with Zeus.
Atom had a mimicking function, and in the end, it was Charlie's own boxing skills that led Atom to fight Zeus.
Watching Atom land punch after punch on Zeus, the moviegoers in the theater felt like they were really at a robot boxing match, totally caught up in the film's emotion.
The cheers of the audience watching the boxing match on screen and the cheers of the moviegoers watching the film outside the screen merged into one unified sound.
James Cameron remarked to the person next to him, "To make a story with a not-so-original idea so exciting and romantic, Gilbert is truly a film genius, just like they say."
George Lucas had a different take: "In Hollywood, ideas are never the problem; the problem is making them a reality.
Gilbert has that ability. Someday, our names might even be listed after his."
If it weren't for the round limit, plus Zeus havin' the upper hand earlier, Atom probably would've won.
But even though Atom lost the match, he won the audience's applause and cheers, and naturally, the applause of the moviegoers in the theater too.
The movie ended on a high note, and the applause in the theater just kept going.
At a premiere, applauding is just good manners. But this movie was truly amazing and totally deserved the applause.
Before Real Steel, no Hollywood movie had ever made a robot movie like this.
Even with movies like Terminator, those were human actors playin' robots, not these massive, powerful robots made of steel.
Mechs, man, they're just cool. At the very least, guys watching this movie were totally hyped up.
---
### Post-Premiere Buzz
When the credits rolled and the lights came up in the theater, Gilbert and the main cast and crew got on stage to take a bow and thank everyone for their support.
Next up, there were some Q&A sessions with media reporters and audience members.
After the screening, there was also a reception dinner to thank everyone for comin' out.
At the dinner, James Cameron and Gilbert chatted for a bit.
"Gilbert, this movie is seriously good, super exciting and passionate. It makes me wanna own a boxing robot just like that."
"Thanks," Gilbert said politely. "Actually, being able to make this movie is all thanks to your development of film technology.
You used a ton of new tech on Terminator, and it all got put to good use in this movie."
"Let's not butter each other up, man. I'd love for you to come to the True Lies premiere in July."
Gilbert didn't have anything goin' on, and James Cameron was cool enough to show up to his premiere, so that was a favor, and Gilbert said yes.
After that, George Lucas also came over to chat: "Gilbert, I'm really impressed by all the tech you showed off in this movie.
Industrial Light & Magic is probably gonna hit a whole new level with its special effects work thanks to this film."
Gilbert then asked, "Director Lucas, I heard 20th Century Fox is thinkin' about rebooting Star Wars. Is that true?"
It wasn't exactly a secret, so George Lucas readily admitted, "Yeah, that's the plan.
What, you wanna direct it?"
Becoming the director of Star Wars, if it were a pure American director, they might say yes, 'cause it's Star Wars, man.
But Gilbert's soul was foreiner, and people over there generally aren't super into Star Wars; the fan base isn't huge, so Gilbert wasn't a fan of that classic movie series either.
"I'd rather make my own movies, Director Lucas..."
George Lucas just chuckled at that and said, "You might change your mind someday, though, you know?"
After the reception dinner wrapped up, Real Steel was officially ready to hit the theaters.