5 years ago, Robert Downey Jr.'s big movie after Iron Man was a box office disaster

(Welcome Tales from the box officeour column looking at box office miracles, disasters and everything in between, and what we can learn from them.)

“I was bulletproof at that point. I was a movie guru of all genres.” That's what Robert Downey Jr. said in 2023, when “Oppenheimer” started appearing in cinemas. This film won the title of “Best Picture” and earned almost 1 billion dollars worldwide. It also won RDJ an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The point in time he was talking about? Around 2017, when he was cast in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, which was later shortened to just Dolittle.

The resounding success of “Oppenheimer” established Downey as an undisputed A-lister even outside of “Iron Man” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His turn as Tony Stark revived his career for more than a decade, beyond even the wildest expectations. This made him a global superstar rivaled only by the likes of Tom Cruise. However, the actor was not bulletproof as evidenced the disaster that was “Dolittle,” the biggest downfall of Downey's wild career. It's the movie that brought the star back down to Earth, for better or worse.

In this week's Tales from the Box Office, we look back at Dolittle in honor of its fifth anniversary. We'll look at how the film came to be, how overconfidence seemed to derail the production, what happened when the film hit theaters, what happened after it was released, and what lessons we can learn from it over the years. . Let's dive in, shall we?

The film is based on the classic novel “Doctor Dolittle” by Hugh Lofting. It's not the first time Hollywood has tried to turn a story about a man who can talk to animals into a movie. There was a 1967 version starring Rex Harrison as well as a 1998 version starring Eddie Murphy. The difference this time, aside from the biggest star in the world, was that Universal Pictures was going to turn Lofting's story into a grand historical epic rather than a simpler take on the material.

Set in 19th century England, Dolittle centers on Dr. John Dolittle, who lives in solitude on his estate with only the exotic animals he talks about to keep him company. When the young Queen Victoria falls ill, the eccentric doctor and his animal friends embark on an epic adventure to a mysterious island in search of a cure.

Some context is worth considering here. As Downey suggested, he was bulletproof heading into the 2020s. When Iron Man hit theaters in 2008 and became a highly unlikely hit. Before that, the actor was unemployed due to earlier problems in his career and personal life. However, this movie changed everything, launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe and an epic decade of hit after hit for RDJ.

It all culminated in 2019 Avengers: Endgame, which became the biggest movie of all time, albeit brieflyearning nearly $2.8 billion at the global box office. It also served (temporarily) as Downey's departure from the MCU, with all eyes on what the actor is going to do next now that Iron Man is behind him. In this case, “Dolittle” put a lot of pressure on it almost by default. Downey's MCU movies got more than 12 billion dollars. Expectations were high.

Universal Pictures picked up the film, giving it a whopping $175 million budget. $20 million of that went to Downey's salary alone. Stephen Gagan (“Syriana”, “Gold”) was considered an unlikely choice to star in the blockbuster.

Because the project was so popular, the studio was able to create an insane ensemble that included Tom Holland (“Spider-Man”), Antonio Banderas (“The Mask of Zorro”), Emma Thompson (“Saving Mr. Banks”). “), Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), John Cena (“Bumblebee”) and Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”) among others. They even got the legendary Danny Elfman (“Batman”, “Spider-Man”) to contribute the score .What could go wrong? Obviously a lot.

The initial one “Dolittle” worried Universal's performers, leading to expensive rewrites and reshoots. In an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, more animals and more laughs were added, and Chris McKay (“The Lego Batman Movie”) and Jonathan Liebesman (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) were brought in to help Gagan shape the film. . As we'll get to, much of what was added during this time is what led to the film being taken over by critics.

One quite infamous The “Dolittle” scene involving the fizzy dragon was actually Downey's suggestion. This happened in the third act and was a symbol of what the film had become. To this end, reflecting on the failure of the 2023 interview, RDJ referred to “Dolittle” as one of the most important films he ever madebut for the wrong reasons:

“The two most important movies I've done in the last 25 years are 'Pink Dog,' because that's the movie that made Disney say they were going to insure me. Then the second most important movie was 'Dolittle,' because 'Dolittle' was a two-and-a-half-year waste.” opportunity wound.

The actor's harsh words turned out to be justified. Behind the scenes, “Dolittle” had all the makings of a disaster, from expensive rewrites/rewrites to ever-changing release dates. There's also a bit of a stigma that suggests January is Hollywood's “dump month” because mostly bad or small-potato movies are released. Fair or not, it didn't show much confidence that Universal chose to release in January rather than shelve Robert Downey Jr.'s star-studded novel for the summer.

Unfortunately, Universal had no reason to be sure. The film was a mess and was ripped apart by critics. A 4 out of 10 film review called “Dolittle” a “poorly conceived trip”.. Critics largely agreed with that assessment, which generated a lot of negative buzz during its opening weekend. Nevertheless, the film hit theaters on January 17, 2020, opening right up against the long-awaited Bad Boys for Life. It turned out to be a disastrous scenario.

“Bad Boys for Life” topped the charts with $62.5 millioneventually becoming Hollywood's biggest hit of the year with $426.5 million worldwide. “Dolittle,” on the other hand, came in third with just $21.8 million, trailing Oscar favorite “1917” ($21.9 million) in its fourth weekend. It didn't help that movies like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Little Women, and Knives Out, among others, were also very strong in theaters. It was a train wreck.

Pretty much the only positive for Universal is that the film held up decently the following weekend, dropping just 44%. But when your $200 million budget comes out below expectations, it doesn't matter. In the end, “Dolittle” closed its run with a staggering $77 million domestically for $174.3 million internationally for a worldwide total of $251.4 million. The studio's cut would hardly be enough to cover marketing costs, let alone the budget.

One of Universal's biggest problems (as well as the world) was the pandemic that shut down all of Hollywood in March 2020. Unfortunately, the studio was forced to postpone the remaining work for months/years. they face an uncertain future. “Dolittle” was the biggest film the studio released that year, and it cost them a fortune. Estimates vary widely, but given that theaters keep about half of all the money made at the box officelosses were in the tens of millions, if not more.

In the months that followed, as theaters around the world closed their doors indefinitely, Universal was the first studio to release a new Trolls World Tour at home, which includes a premium VOD model, charging $20 per movie. rental To this day Universal remains one of the biggest champions of PVODdespite the fact that it has undoubtedly reduced the theater's revenue. It might not be an understatement to say that this fall heightened the company's sense of urgency when it came to generating revenue outside of theaters.

If nothing else, it was a colossal failure, even if the world hadn't gone silent just a few weeks later. For Downey, it was a black mark on his otherwise flawless record. Let's not forget that the actor also turned “Sherlock Holmes” into a blockbuster theater franchise in the 2010s. That setback changed the actor's mind about how he wanted to approach his post-Marvel career.

Perhaps this fall motivated him in some way decision to return to the MCU as Doctor Doom instead of Tony Stark in “Avengers: Doomsday.” Security doesn't sound so bad after the farting dragon fiasco. Get your Oscar, then go for your crowd-pleasing payday, is another way of looking at it.

“After this moment—what's the phrase? Never let a good crisis go to waste?” Downey said he covered “Dolittle” in the 2023 profile.. “We had that priority and some changes were made in terms of who our closest business advisors were.”

This movie is an important lesson about the dangers of overconfidence. At every stage, everyone involved seems to have thought it would work. It seems that RDJ and his team felt that there was another big franchise to look for after Iron Man's retirement. However, when a company doesn't come from a creative place, it struggles up an even steeper hill. In this case, Downey and everyone else involved went down the hill. Experience will certainly be part of the calculus in whatever decision he makes from here on out.

For Universal — and Hollywood in general — this should be a warning about the dangers of assuming that intellectual property rights in IP are significant. Just because something already exists doesn't mean it will matter to the masses. “Blade Runner 2049” is another great example of this commerciallyeven though this film is widely regarded as a creative masterpiece.

The other big red flag here is the amount of money thrown at the many problems that plagued “Dolittle.” 175 million dollars, first of all, is an astronomical amount of money for this type of film. Forget about expensive reshoots and rewrites. More importantly, the purpose of these rewrites and rewrites was not the best creative decision. They looked for the lowest common denominator, assuming animals and cheap humor would sell tickets. In short? Throwing money at creative problems is almost never a solution. That's how we get dragon farts.