Why Dolittle Just Disastrously Flopped

1. The Final Nails

This is, after all, a franchise that only worked relatively recently on the big screen because of the transgressive nature of Eddie Murphy's version. His Dr Dolittle was a completely new creation with the old character's powers but little else linking the pair. It was a revisionist rather than a nostalgic approach and it worked for that very reason.

For Universal to then believe that going back to the source for a more pure adaptation would work is just numb-headed. The franchise's last book was released 70 years ago and the source material simply has not aged well. There is no nostalgia factor here other than recognition of the character and the vain hope that the central acting performance and the starry cast could make it relevant for a new audience. That never goes well.

It's not even fair to say that RDJ does well with the movie's material. He struggles manfully with a poor script and a ridiculous premise, but his acting decisions should definitely raise an eyebrow too. His accent is horrific and there's more of Johnny Depp hamming it up here than any of the understated brilliance of his Tony Stark.

And it's almost as if Universal knew how big of a disappointment it was going to be since they pushed the release date for Dolittle to January, a month for films studios have no faith in. For it to then have to compete with the surprisingly popular Bad Boys threequel and Sam Mendes' stunning 1917 was just an added blow. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence dominated the box office, Dolitle brought in just over $125m and the turkey status was confirmed.

There is some hope to be had in the fact that there are other markets yet to open, including the UK, but whether the film manages to claw back any of its projected $100m or so loss on those screens remains to be seen. It's rare when it happens at the best of times.

Now the question is this, how will that affect Robert Downey Jr.'s career and what will be his next move? He is no stranger to starring in awful movies (just look at The Shaggy Dog), and the last Avengers paycheck is still putting food on the table to put it lightly so he doesn't need to worry about that either, but it's hard not to think that the way he's perceived in Hollywood have almost certainly have changed.

Hell, who knows, maybe this might make him rethink never playing Tony Stark again...?