9 Recent Movies Sent Out To Die

7. Dolittle

Capone Tom Hardy
Universal Pictures

By all accounts, 2020's Doolittle should have been a massive hit. It had everything going for it with a bankable star in Robert Downey Jr., who was riding high after the incredible success of Avengers: Endgame. It had an ample budget, which has needed to achieve the animal effects, and it tells a classic tale.

Unfortunately, the movie didn't do well, and it holds the odd distinction of being the 4th highest-grossing movie of 2020 while also being a box office bomb. There were several problems with Doolittle's production, which suggested Universal Pictures didn't have a ton of faith in the project.

Test screenings revealed that the movie was poorly received by a broad range of demographics, requiring extensive reshoots that lasted nearly a month. By the time post-production was completed, Universal likely knew it had a dud on its hands, so it screwed around with the release date.

It was set to drop in May 2019 but was moved to April to avoid competing with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (which would also be delayed) . It was then moved to December to try and pull in the Christmas movie market but was again shifted to mid-January 2020, where it withered and died.

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Jonathan is a graphic artist, illustrator, writer, and game designer. Jonathan retired from the U.S. Army in 2017 and enjoys researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects. He writes for ScreenRant, CBR, NerdBastards, Listverse, Ranker, WhatCulture, and many other sites online. You can check out his latest on Twitter: @TalkingBull or on his blog: jonathanhkantor.com