The boxing movie, Southpaw, starring rapper Eminem, is reported to have been dropped by its production company, Dreamworks.

The movie would have marked Eminem’s return to the big screen for the first time in over ten years, since his performance in the critically acclaimed 8 Mile. Southpaw was set to tell the story of a rising boxing star who struggles to piece his life back together after encountering a tragedy.

This might not sound hugely dissimilar from Eminem’s role as 8 Mile’s Rabbit – a young man determined to overcome his circumstances and make it as a boxer. Indeed, scriptwriter Kurt Sutter had already stated that the film would be something of a metaphorical continuation of the 8 Mile narrative. We suspect that casting Eminem as a boxer would have given him rather more of a dangerous edge than, say, an amateur golfer or partypoker.com enthusiast, as well as a chance to bring back the brooding stare that served him so well in 8 Mile. However, this plan may have backfired somewhat, as Dreamworks have now dropped the production, with many suggesting that the reason for this lies in the fact that they have a large number of other boxing or fighter movies already in the works.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ve heard the last of this project. Although filming may not now commence in 2012 as planned, the film is now back in the hands of director Antoine Fuqua, who is likely to pitch the idea to a number of other studios. Eminems was previously awarded an Oscar for the 8 Mile’s theme song, ‘Lose Yourself’, so if this movie does eventually find studio backing, then it could be a chance for the budding actor to win an Academy Award for his on-screen performance too.