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?
"We have no choice but to embark… on this perilous journey."
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.
"Something smelled wrong - and that's coming from a guy who loves the smell of butts."
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.
It was Gaghan's cut of the film that went over like a lead balloon at those test screenings,
and Universal's attempt to course-correct by bringing in McKay and Liebesman to ramp
up the silliness was obviously the wrong move.
The film was all over the place in terms of tone, described as a "grand adventure for
the adults and fart and poop jokes for the kids."
Ultimately, it failed to win over either audience.
To make matters worse, the film debuted in January, a traditional dumping ground for
flicks that studios know nobody is going to want to see.
This, coupled with its troubled production history, caused critics to view it with suspicion
before they even set foot in the theater - and once they did, those suspicions were confirmed.
Poor critical notices aren't always a determining factor for tentpole films, but in regards
to Dolittle, it's hard to make the case that the film's reviews didn't punch some cannonball-sized
holes in its hull.
Critics weren't just unkind; they were absolutely brutal, as summed up by the words of NPR's
Scott Tobias.
"Dolittle is not a film.
Dolittle is a crime scene in need of forensic analysis.
Something happened here.
Something terrible.
Something inexplicable.
[...] This one had been stabbed multiple times, and only a thorough behind-the-scenes examination
could sort out whose fingerprints are on what hilt."
To put things into perspective, consider that, as of this writing, Dolittle stands at 19%
on Rotten Tomatoes; the seemingly universally reviled Cats, which is swiftly becoming synonymous
with "unbelievably ill-conceived fiasco," sits at 20%.
If Dolittle had opened to no competition whatsoever, the damage might have at least been mitigated.
But compounding the flick's myriad problems, it had the distinct misfortune of opening
against a franchise movie that had no trouble generating word of mouth of a much more positive
nature.
Now it's time to be good men."
"Who in the hell wanna sing that song?
Good men, good men, what you gonna do?"
Nobody ever accused the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy cop pictures Bad Boys and Bad
Boys II of being high art, and it had been nearly 17 years since the former flick's release.
But Bad Boys for Life - which had been in development for years, and which was made
without the involvement of franchise director Michael Bay - arrived to surprisingly solid
reviews, and built a strong pre-release buzz which resulted in it overperforming wildly.
The modestly-budgeted flick has already reeled in over $100 million [one-hundred-million-dollars,
which is the second-best showing in history for Martin Luther King Day weekend.
The surprise smash all but sealed the box office fortunes of Dolittle, which will now
have to put up an unreasonably strong overseas performance to even come within shouting distance
of breaking even.
It's a stunning reversal of fortune for Downey, who went from starring in the highest-grossing
film of all time - last year's Avengers: Endgame - to a film that will be remembered as a towering
flop, if it's remembered at all.
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