Dolittle is a new fantasy adventure film in which Robert Downey Jr. stars as the title character.
Let’s find out some trivia and facts about the new film!
- Dolittle is a 2020 American fantasy adventure film
- It is directed by Stephen Gaghan
- From a screenplay by Gaghan, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Chris McKay
- And a story by Thomas Shepherd
- A reboot of the Doctor Dolittle films
- The film is based on the titular character created by Hugh Lofting
- It is primarily inspired by The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
- Robert Downey Jr. stars as the title character
- Alongside Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen in live-action roles
- The voice cast includes Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Craig Robinson, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, and Marion Cotillard
- The project was announced in March 2017 with Downey Jr. set to star
- The rest of the cast joined over the following year
- Filming began in March 2018 and lasted through June, taking place around the United Kingdom
- The film underwent three weeks of reshoots in the spring of 2019
- Under the supervision of Jonathan Liebesman and Chris McKay
- The reshoots happened after initial test screenings yielded poor results
- Dolittle was theatrically released in the United States on January 17, 2020, by Universal Pictures
- The film received negative reviews from critics
- On March 20, 2017, it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. would star in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, a feature adaptation of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
- In December 2017, Harry Collett and Jim Broadbent were cast
- In February 2018, Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen were cast in live-action roles
- While Tom Holland, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, and Selena Gomez were cast to voice animals, including a tiger, bear, and a lioness
- In March 2018, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, John Cena, Rami Malek, Craig Robinson, Marion Cotillard, Frances de la Tour and Carmen Ejogo joined the voice cast
- Principal production commenced mid-February in 2018
- Live-action scenes began filming in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria in May 2018
- With further location filming at South Forest, Windsor Great Park and on the Menai Suspension Bridge in North West Wales, in June 2018
- In April 2019, it was reported the film had undergone 21 days of re-shoots following poor test screenings
- Director Jonathan Liebesman helped to oversee the filming alongside Gaghan
- While Chris McKay helped write new material after it became clear from first cuts that the comedy elements of the film were not coming together as well as the producers had hoped
- In August 2019, it was reported that the film’s title had been changed from The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle to simply Dolittle
- In January 2020, Robert Downey Jr discussed on Joe Rogan’s podcast (The Joe Rogan Experience) that the premise of the Dr. Dolittle character in his film stemmed from a Welsh neo-pagan physician called William Price
- Music artist Sia performed a new song of hers called “Original” for the end credits
- While Danny Elfman composed the film’s score
- In the United States and Canada, Dolittle is projected to gross $20 to 22 million from 4,155 theaters in its opening weekend
- And a total of around $27 million over the four-day MLK weekend
- The film made a “very low” $925,000 from Thursday night previews
- On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 19%
- Based on 122 reviews
- With an average rating of 4.09/10
- The website’s critics consensus reads: “Dolittle may be enough to entertain very young viewers, but they deserve better than this rote adaptation’s jumbled story and stale humor”
- On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100
- Based on 41 critics
- Indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”
- Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B” on an A+ to F scale
- While at PostTrak kids and parents gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars and general audiences gave it 2.5
