![]() Despite a course having been set for the film’s third-act climax, Downey charted a path for a new direction. The wild card appears to have been Downey. Gaghan remained involved throughout, but the revolving door of filmmakers after principal photography ended did little to establish a throughline for the movie, even beyond the reshoots that occurred in London in spring 2019. The baton was then passed to Jonathan Liebesman, who had previously worked with McKay on reshoots for 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He made the story more mission-oriented and turned the boy character from Dolittle’s son to a hopeful apprentice.īut then McKay was presented an opportunity to direct his own movie - Paramount’s The Tomorrow War starring Chris Pratt - and exited. McKay assembled edits and storyboarded sequences and worked with Downey on concepts, trying to find a cost-effective way to undertake reshoots. It turned to Chris McKay, who showed off both comedy and visual effects chops on his well-received The Lego Batman Movie. But Rogen was too busy with other projects to stay involved, so the studio sought someone who could dedicate energies day to day. Universal turned to Seth Rogen for advice, with the actor-turned-filmmaker bringing in the co-screenwriter of his Neighbors films, Brendan O’Brien, and putting together a proposal on what they believed was needed to make the film funnier. “It felt like a morose father-son story, and there wasn’t a big animal presence,” says one insider familiar with the process. ![]() giving the dragon an enema - was said to lack humor and focus on a familial thread pegged to the death of Dolittle’s wife. The original ending - which, like the ending in the version that hit theaters, featured a dragon, but which did not involve Downey Jr. ![]() People backed him thinking, ‘We’ll surround him with the best teams,’ but at a certain point it became clear this wasn’t working. It became apparent, a source close to the project stresses, that “this is not the kind of movie he should have directed. The assembled version was said to not feel like a family movie it lacked comedic elements and, considering it was about talking animals, a fair amount of special effects. When in fall 2018 the studio saw the first cut - helmed by Gaghan, known for his work on layered dramas such as Syriana and Traffic, for which he won the best adapted screenplay Oscar - executives identified several problems. While there were studio hands and veteran producers such as Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum involved with the production, insiders say it was Downey and Susan Downey, his wife and producing partner, that primarily held creative control. Universal picked up the Dolittle package in March 2017, announcing weeks later that it had landed the charismatic Downey to star as the doctor who talks to animals in a film written and to be directed by Oscar winner Stephen Gaghan. And it’s clear from the movie’s quiet January release - it was originally set to open in May 2019 - that Universal knew the reworked movie was still problematic. and China, but suffice it to say the outlook is bleak.Īlmost as bad as any monetary loss is the fact that Dolittle has sidelined hopes for a new family franchise. Pinpointing a precise loss figure within that range is tough, since the movie has yet to open in a number of foreign markets, including the U.K. Worse, international audiences are staying away, leading to an anemic worldwide gross to date of roughly $94 million and a potential $75 million to $100 million loss for Universal and its financial partners. ![]() Day weekend, the film’s domestic gross stood at $46.9 million through Jan. to tepid numbers over the lucrative Martin Luther King Jr. In addition to receiving scathing reviews (17 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), the 101-minute film has turned into the year’s first global bomb. That improvisational approach, however, didn’t work out for Universal and Downey’s production house, Team Downey. Barry Garron, Former Chief TV Critic for The Hollywood Reporter, Dies at 72
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