For the first time in over a decade and a half, Hollywood titans Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro will be back on the big screen together at the end of the year in Grudge Match, a boxing comedy that should make for nice and light counterprogramming in the height of the awards season.
Warner Bros. has three big movies coming out in as many weeks this December, and with trailers already revealed for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Spike Jonze’s her, the studio has debuted the first trailer for Peter Segal’s upcoming comedy.
Award-winning movie legends Oscar® winner Robert De Niro (“Raging Bull,” “Silver Linings Playbook”) and Oscar® nominee Sylvester Stallone (the “Rocky” films, “The Expendables”) star as old boxing rivals who come out of retirement for one final match. De Niro and Stallone play Billy “The Kid” McDonnen and Henry “Razor” Sharp, two local Pittsburgh fighters whose fierce rivalry put them in the national spotlight. Each had scored a victory against the other during their heyday, but in 1983, on the eve of their decisive third match, Razor suddenly announced his retirement, refusing to explain why but effectively delivering a knock-out punch to both their careers. Thirty years later, boxing promoter Dante Slate Jr., seeing big dollar signs, makes them an offer they can’t refuse: to re-enter the ring and settle the score once and for all. But they may not have to wait that long: on their first encounter in decades, their long-festering feud erupts into an unintentionally hilarious melee that instantly goes viral. The sudden social media frenzy transforms their local grudge match into a must-see HBO event. Now, if they can just survive the training, they may actually live to fight again.
De Niro and Stallone star alongside Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin, Kim Basinger, and Jon Bernthal, with what looks to be a cameo from LL Cool J, as seen in the trailer below.
Segal (Get Smart, The Longest Yard) is at the helm, directing from a script written by Tim Kelleher (The Arsenio Hall Show), Rodney Rothman (Late Show with David Letterman), and Doug Ellin (Entourage).
Grudge Match is set to be released in the US on Christmas Day, with its UK release date set for early next year on 24th January. For now, here’s the first trailer, with the second half featuring Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ brilliant tune, Can’t Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton). Enjoy.
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