''Max Steel'' is a 2016
superhero film
A superhero film (or superhero movie) is a film that focuses on the actions of superheroes. Superheroes are individuals who possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically feature Action film, ac ...
based on the
eponymous action-figure line by
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
, which was co-produced by
its ''Playground Productions'' division with
Dolphin Films and
Ingenious Media
Ingenious Media (styled as INGENIθUS) is a division of London-based Ingenious Capital Management Limited, also known as Ingenious. The company was founded in 1998 by Patrick McKenna.
Filmography
2000s
2010s
2020s
Upcoming
Fut ...
.
Open Road Films
Open Road Films, LLC (formerly Global Road Entertainment from 2017 to 2018) is an American film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Eric Hohl on March 26, 2011 as a joint venture between the t ...
released the film theatrically on October 14, 2016 in the United States whiles
IM Global
IM Global was an American independent film and TV production company, The company was founded by Stuart Ford in April 2007 and operating in international film, television and music production, as well as sales and international distribution. The ...
handles its European and Asian distribution.
Directed by
Stewart Hendler and written by
Christopher Yost
Christopher Lee Yost (born February 21, 1973) is an American film, television, animation, and comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Studios' Marvel Cinematic Universe with '' Thor: The Dark World'' (2013) and '' Thor: Ragnarok'' ( ...
,
the film stars
Ben Winchell
Ben Winchell (born July 3, 1994) is an American film and television actor, known for playing Aiden in the film '' Teen Spirit'' and Dixon Ticonderoga in the series '' A.N.T. Farm''. He has played the titular role of Max Steel in the live-action ...
,
Josh Brener
Joshua Max Brener is an American actor. He played the roles of Kyle on the IFC series ''Maron'' and Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti on the HBO series ''Silicon Valley''. In animation, he provides the voices of Donatello on ''Rise of the Teenage Mutan ...
,
Ana Villafañe
Ana Teresa Villafañe ( ; born June 5, 1989) is an American actress and singer from Miami, Florida, best known for her portrayal of pop icon Gloria Estefan in the Broadway musical ''On Your Feet!''.
Life and career
She was born on June 5, 1989, ...
,
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...
,
Maria Bello
Maria Elena Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and writer. Her film roles include ''Permanent Midnight'' (1998), ''Payback (1999 film), Payback'' (1999), ''Coyote Ugly (film), Coyote Ugly'' (2000), ''The Cooler'' (2003), ''A Hist ...
, and
Billy Slaughter
William H. Slaughter is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles in '' The Campaign'' and ''Focus''. In his free time he works with students that want to become actors and actresses at Launch Model And Talent in Metairie, ...
. The film chronicles the adventures of teenaged Max McGrath (Winchell) and alien companion Steel (Brener), who combine their powers to form the superhero Max Steel.
Filming began on April 29, 2014, in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
and concluded in late May 2014. It was panned by critics, and was a
box office failure
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, grossing $6.3 million globally and overall against a budget of $5 million to $10 million.
Plot
Teenager Max McGrath moves with his mother Molly to the town of Copper Canyon, where he was born and where his father Jim McGrath died in a supposed storm. In his first few days at school, he realizes that almost everyone in town knows more about Jim than he does because his mother refuses to talk about Jim's past or death. During dinner with Jim's friend Miles Edwards, Max learns that his father worked for N-TEK, an advanced research company now run by Miles. Concurrently after arriving, Max discovers he emits a unique form of
tachyon
A tachyon () or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always travels faster than light. Physicists believe that faster-than-light particles cannot exist because they are not consistent with the known laws of physics. If such partic ...
ic energy called TURBO which is powerful enough to overload any electrical item, but he has no control over when he emits it. After sensing an oncoming overload during a date with classmate Sofia, Max encounters an amnesiac alien creature named Steel, who symbiotically bonds with Max to absorb the energy.
Finding themselves chased by mysterious men, Max takes Steel to his high school to hide and finds himself opening up emotionally for the first time in his life. Max learns to control and harness his powers, including linking with Steel to form a suit of armor. While linked, Max starts to see his father's life through flashbacks shared with Steel and learns that an alien race called the Ultralinks with the power to manipulate the elements launched an attack on N-TEK. In search of answers, Max goes there to visit Miles, who explains that Jim was working on creating a generator capable of creating an unlimited source of power, and suggests that Jim died in an accident caused by not following safety procedures. Feeling another energy spike, Max finds solace but is soon caught in a powerful storm, which he realizes is an Ultralink. Working together, Max and Steel defeat the Ultralink and, to their shock, find it looks identical to Steel. Another flashback hints that Steel was responsible for Jim's death, causing Max to lash out at Steel and walk away.
Max discovers Molly is missing, borrows Sofia's car, and calls Miles, who reveals he is aware of the Ultralinks and that Molly was kidnapped as a trap for Max at the old N-TEK Facility where Jim died. Max goes to the facility and finds Steel captured, where he has a flashback that shows the truth: Jim McGrath was an alien who naturally generated TURBO, Steel was his partner, and the power generator was a machine designed to harness and focus his natural energy; however, Miles became addicted to infusing the TURBO for the power it gave him, and allied with the Ultralinks to absorb Jim's energy for himself. Jim overloaded the core to stop Miles and, with his final words, told Steel to find and protect Max at all costs.
Miles entraps Max, having created a suit of armor that drains TURBO, seeking to harvest the energy for himself. Learning to use his armored form as Max Steel, Max fights Miles aided by the mysterious men, revealed to be an N-TEK Special Forces Squad who were working for Miles to find Steel, but are now working for Molly (as majority shareholder of the company). Working together, Max and Steel generate so much energy that Miles is unable to absorb it, overloading him in a massive explosion. Molly reveals that after Jim's death, she feared the Ultralinks would come after Max, so she constantly moved until Miles suggested they move back to Copper Canyon in case Max started to emit TURBO. Max apologizes to Sofia for his behavior and makes a date for that night, then goes for a flight in the armor with Steel's assistance.
Cast
*
Ben Winchell
Ben Winchell (born July 3, 1994) is an American film and television actor, known for playing Aiden in the film '' Teen Spirit'' and Dixon Ticonderoga in the series '' A.N.T. Farm''. He has played the titular role of Max Steel in the live-action ...
as Max McGrath
*
Maria Bello
Maria Elena Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and writer. Her film roles include ''Permanent Midnight'' (1998), ''Payback (1999 film), Payback'' (1999), ''Coyote Ugly (film), Coyote Ugly'' (2000), ''The Cooler'' (2003), ''A Hist ...
as Molly McGrath
*
Ana Villafañe
Ana Teresa Villafañe ( ; born June 5, 1989) is an American actress and singer from Miami, Florida, best known for her portrayal of pop icon Gloria Estefan in the Broadway musical ''On Your Feet!''.
Life and career
She was born on June 5, 1989, ...
as Sofia Martinez
*
Josh Brener
Joshua Max Brener is an American actor. He played the roles of Kyle on the IFC series ''Maron'' and Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti on the HBO series ''Silicon Valley''. In animation, he provides the voices of Donatello on ''Rise of the Teenage Mutan ...
as the voice of Steel
*
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...
as
Dr. Miles Edwards
In addition,
Mike Doyle Michael, Mick or Mike Doyle may refer to:
Politics
* Michael Doyle (Irish politician), Irish Farmers' Party politician from Wexford, TD from 1922 to 1927
*Michael Doyle, alleged member of the Molly Maguires
*Mike Doyle (American politician) (born ...
appears briefly as Jim McGrath, Max's father.
Production
Development
An early attempt to create a Max Steel film occurred in December 2009 when
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
purchased the rights to the franchise.
Taylor Lautner
Taylor Daniel Lautner (; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Therianthropy, shapeshifter Jacob Black in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' film series.
Lautner began his acting caree ...
was an early choice for the starring role, although he later dropped out due to commitment to the
Stretch Armstrong film. In January 2013, production was suspended when ''Max Steel'' was developed into
a television series of the same name, airing later that year. In August 2013, plans for a new film adaptation resumed with Mattel partnering with Dolphin Entertainment to fund the film.
In February 2014, Ben Winchell and Ana Villafañe were cast as Max McGrath and Sofia Martinez, respectively.
That same month, the press officially confirmed Andy García's casting as Dr. Miles Edwards.
In May 2014, Maria Bello and Mike Doyle joined the cast as Molly and Jim McGrath, Max's parents.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
commenced on April 29, 2014, in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
and ended on May 31, 2014.
Reception
Box office
''Max Steel'' grossed $3.8 million in the United States and Canada and $2.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $6.3 million, against a production budget of $5–10 million.
''Max Steel'' opened on October 14, 2016, alongside ''
The Accountant'' and ''
Kevin Hart: What Now?'', and was expected to gross $5–7 million from 2,034 theaters in its opening weekend.
After grossing just $637,795 on its first day the film went on to open to $2.2 million, finishing 11th at the box office. In its second weekend the film grossed $680,104 finishing 17th at the box office, making it a
box office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an
approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics' consensus states: "Bereft of characterization or even satisfying rock 'em sock 'em, ''Max Steel'' feels like futzing with an action figure without any childhood imagination." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score 22 out of 100, based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
critic Alex Welch gave the film a score of 4 out of 10, summarizing his review with: "''Max Steel'' is one of the more forgettable and pointless attempts at a superhero franchise in the current post-
MCU Hollywood market, lacking any of the originality or vibrance that could give it even a remote shot at a successful future."
''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''s Joe Leydon gave a negative review, describing it as: "A half-baked, time-wasting curtain-raiser for a superhero franchise that is never, ever going to happen."
Christy Lemire for ''
RogerEbert.com'' gave half a star out of 4, writing: "For a movie about developing the greatest energy source in the universe, ''Max Steel'' is surprisingly bland" and that "a movie based on a toy should be a whole lot more fun than this."
''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' critic Frank Scheck gave an unfavorable review, writing: "Even tweens may find themselves underwhelmed by the new live-action film based on what—for many of them—may be their favorite Mattel action figure. Delivering a bland cinematic origin story which seems calculated to boost Christmas toy sales, ''Max Steel'' is a stillborn, would-be franchise starter, sneaked into multiplexes without advance critic screenings."
Home media
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
released ''Max Steel'' on Digital HD on January 3, 2017, then released the film on Blu-ray/DVD/
Digital HD
A digital copy is a commercially distributed computer file containing a media product such as a film or music album. The term contrasts this computer file with the physical copy (typically a DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, or Ultra HD Blu-ray disc) wit ...
combo-pack on January 10, 2017.
See also
*
List of films based on toys
*
List of films based on television programs
This a list of television programs that were later adapted into feature films.
Programs with films which are prequels, sequels or based upon the series
Pilot episodes released as feature films
Television pilots that were soon or later adapted ...
*
List of films with a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
On the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, films that every surveyed critic considered bad have a 0% rating. As of 2022, 43 films have received this rating.
'' The Ringer'', analyzing films' Rotten Tomatoes scores compared to chan ...
*
List of American superhero films
*
List of teen films
*
''Max Steel'' (2000 TV series)
*
''Max Steel'' (2013 TV series)
*
Max Steel
Max Steel is a line of action figures produced and owned by the toy company Mattel since 1999. The original figures based on the first TV series were similar to the original 12-inch G.I. Joe toys, consisting almost entirely of different versi ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Stewart Hendler
Max Steel
2016 films
2016 science fiction action films
2010s action adventure films
2010s children's adventure films
2010s science fiction adventure films
2010s superhero films
Alien visitations in films
American action adventure films
American children's adventure films
American science fiction action films
American science fiction adventure films
American superhero films
British action adventure films
British science fiction action films
British science fiction adventure films
British superhero films
Films based on Mattel toys
Films directed by Stewart Hendler
Films set in 2016
Films shot in North Carolina
Live-action films based on animated series
Mattel Creations films
Open Road Films films
Teen superhero films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
2010s British films