LOS ANGELES, USA (AP) — Boxing robots are the undisputed champions at the weekend box office.

Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel, set in a near-future when robot fighters have replaced humans in the ring, debuted at No 1 with $27.3 million, according to studio estimates released yesterday.

A DreamWorks release distributed by Disney, Real Steel added $22.1 million in 19 overseas markets for a worldwide total of $49.4 million. The movie casts Jackman as a former boxer reluctantly thrown together with his young son as they turn a junkyard robot into a world-class contender.

George Clooney’s political saga The Ides of March was the runner-up, opening at No 2 with $10.4 million. The Sony release stars Ryan Gosling as an aide to a presidential candidate (Clooney) caught up in scandal. Clooney also directed.

The previous No 1 movie, the Warner Bros family film Dolphin Tale, slipped to No 3 with $9.2 million, raising its domestic total to $49.1 million.

Males accounted for two-thirds of the audience for Real Steel, though Jackman’s sex appeal and a romantic subplot involving co-star Evangeline Lilly was a draw for women, said Dave Hollis, Disney’s head of distribution. The movie brought in a solid mix of couples and parents with children, he said.

“The men might have been more attracted to this idea of boxing robots and the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em part of it. For women, it was more Hugh, and the Hugh and Evangeline angle,” Holis said. “For families, it’s this father-son story and the somewhat redemptive rise to glory toward the end.”