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Robert Downey, Jr.'s first starring vehicle since ending his tenure as Tony Stark - AKA Iron Man - in the Marvel Cinematic Universe didn't quite set the box office on fire.
In fact, Dolittle - a new take on that classic childrens' character who talks to animals - is shaping up to be one of the biggest bombs of 2020, and it's only January. Its opening four-day total came in at just under $60 million worldwide, and while that's respectable for a January release, Dolittle had to do much, much better to have a solid chance of breaking even. The movie was budgeted at an eye-watering $175 million, and for reasons we'll get into momentarily, it likely ended up sporting a much heftier price tag than that.
On paper, the film looked like a winner: Downey in the lead, an all-star cast including the likes of Rami Malek, Octavia Spencer, and Tom Holland voicing all of those adorable animals, and an Oscar-winning writer/director in Stephen Gaghan. So, why did Dolittle flop so spectacularly at the box office?
The first signs of trouble came when Dolittle, after its initial test screenings, was found to be in need of heavy reshoots by Universal. In order to better connect with family and overseas audiences, the studio decreed that the flick was in dire need of more talking animals, more slapstick comedy, and - if the critics are to be believed - a whole heck of a lot more fart jokes.
For undisclosed reasons, Gaghan did not return for these reshoots. Instead, the studio tapped Chris McKay and Jonathan Liebesman to shoot the new footage, which almost certainly pushed the movie's final budget well north of $200 million. But not only did the reshoots push the flick's budget into the stratosphere, they delayed its release by nine months, and foreshadowed a troubling fact: Universal wasn't quite sure who it was making this movie for.
Now, don't get us wrong: Gaghan is a fine writer and director, but the fact that he was hired for Dolittle only serves to illustrate that this was a film conceived with no clear audience in mind. His previous credits didn't even approach the realm of family-friendly; his stock in trade is serious dramas like Havoc, Traffic, and Syriana. Keep watching the video too see why Dolittle bombed at the box office.
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