Dolittle | Jan 17 2020 | Universal | 16% RT | Winner of the Kids Choice Award!

[dudalb]

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2020 at 8:07 PM, Jedi Jat said:

RDJ should have done some larger than life and witty character film. That's what Hollywood lacks. Stars don't consolidate their image, except Rock. Rock in an action film can still bring good numbers internationally, but remove him from action stuff and he is fuss. RDJ has a bigger potential stardom, he needed to consolidate post Iron Man hype with something like Sherlock or some original action film even.

 

Still Asia will open well for the genre. Expecting $350mn, may be even $400-500mn if well liked.

I think RDJ should have done a out and out comedy; his skill with funny lines would have worked beautifully.

Not that thrilled with his doing another Sherlock movie since I don't like his version of Holmes. Can't compare, with Rathbone, Jeremy Britt, or Bendedict Cumbernatch in the role.

Of course Sherlock Holmes is my favorite ficitional character and I have a pretty high bar for actors when it comes to him.

Wiered thing is despite it being set in modern times, the Cumbernatch Holmes is much, much closer to the Conan Doyle original then the VIctorian set RDJ version.

Edited January 7, 2020 by dudalb

[dudalb]

19 hours ago, Eric Laurence said:

 

That poster is just begging for jokes about "This movie is for the birds"....

[JB33]

What kind of an opening are you anticipating for this, @dudalb?

[dudalb]

15 hours ago, JB33 said:

What kind of an opening are you anticipating for this, @dudalb?

To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes;Insufficent Data.

I would like to see what the reviews are like before making a solid prediction, but my own wild guess is in the 20 to 25 Million range. This film has incredibly little buzz for a 175 Million movie, and the studio is not spending a lot promoting it. I think universal remembers what they did with "Battleship"whree they  spent 100 Million on a last minute blitz campaign for a film a lot of people in the studio had little faith in, and all they did was add a huge amount of red ink to already big losses.

BTW 25 Million is bad for a 175 Million film.

Edited January 8, 2020 by dudalb

[dudalb]

And that is the main problem with this film: Seems as though the studio overspent on it...again. If it had a modest budget it might stand a chance of at least breaking even but I just cannot see this doing the 350 plus it would need to just break even.

[JB33]

You wonder if Universal oversimplified the equation for success with this film (ie. RDJ = blockbuster!!).

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, JB33 said:

You wonder if Universal oversimplified the equation for success with this film (ie. RDJ = blockbuster!!).

Is RDJ even doing any promo for this? Already a bad enough sign a crazy expensive big-budget movie that's also his first post-MCU appearance is opening in a week and nobody is talking about it at all.

[JB33]

35 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Is RDJ even doing any promo for this? Already a bad enough sign a crazy expensive big-budget movie that's also his first post-MCU appearance is opening in a week and nobody is talking about it at all.

He's done a couple kiddish featurettes. That's about it. There's absolutely nothing happening with this film, it feels like. It's a big budget tentpole that's going to come and go the same as a small budget January throw-away movie would.

 

Very odd dynamics with this film, that's 'for sure.

Edited January 9, 2020 by JB33

[dudalb]

14 hours ago, JB33 said:

You wonder if Universal oversimplified the equation for success with this film (ie. RDJ = blockbuster!!).

Studios are always looking for a foolproof, no way can fail formula for a hit movie, and they never find one. 

In this case, I think it is not so much they greenlit it, but they simply gave it far too big a budget. 

And I maintain  it is still a question how big a draw RDJ is outside Tony Stark or, to a lesser degree, Sherlock Holmes. Let's see how he does outside those franchise roles, and if he does well then build a 175 Million film around him.

[dudalb]

14 hours ago, JB33 said:

He's done a couple kiddish featurettes. That's about it. There's absolutely nothing happening with this film, it feels like. It's a big budget tentpole that's going to come and go the same as a small budget January throw-away movie would.

 

Very odd dynamics with this film, that's 'for sure.

The dead giveaway the studio does not have much faith in the film is they did not open it in the Holiday season. it just has Tentpole Holiday release written all over it. 

Dyamics are not that odd. It SOP for when a studio  knows it has a almost certain turkey on it's hands. You cut expenses, and don't add to the red ink.

And Universl in particular remembers their bad experience with "Battleship".

[Barnack]

On 1/7/2020 at 3:44 PM, dudalb said:

Wiered thing is despite it being set in modern times, the Cumbernatch Holmes is much, much closer to the Conan Doyle original then the VIctorian set RDJ version.

I have not read a lot of the Doyle, but the start of the Cumberbatch Holmes bbc series is almost a line by line copy of the first book right ? Just changing a watch by a cellphone, the type of drugs and so on (the Afghanistan war could stay at the same place)

[dudalb]

2 minutes ago, Barnack said:

I have not read a lot of the Doyle, but the start of the Cumberbatch Holmes bbc series is almost a line by line copy of the first book right ? Just changing a watch by a cellphone, the type of drugs and so on (the Afghanistan war could stay at the same place)

Oh, definently, it's pretty much a modernized version of the first meeting of Holmes and Watson in 
"A Study In Scarlet".

[JB33]

 

[snarkmachine]

how are they on day 3 of press and i haven’t seen a single interview anywhere lol

[MrGlass2]

It's weird that it seems to be selling so few tickets according to the Tracking thread, the trailer had a lot of views plus there is RDJ in his first post-MCU role.

[Sam]

It looks dreadful. And whatever RDJ thinks he has going for that accent, he doesn’t have it. The dialogues coming from the animals seem the worst though.

 

I’m usually good at enduring bad kids movie for my little cousins, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it through this one. 

[The Futurist]

MCU meeting for Stark's resurrection on Monday the 20th then ?

Ok.

I thought it would happen in 2025 or 2026 but 2023-24 seems more  likely now.

[Neucentro]

4 hours ago, snarkmachine said:

how are they on day 3 of press and i haven’t seen a single interview anywhere lol

Look harder. 😉

 

RDJ will be on Kimmel and Ellen next week.

[filmlover]

1 hour ago, MrGlass2 said:

It's weird that it seems to be selling so few tickets according to the Tracking thread, the trailer had a lot of views plus there is RDJ in his first post-MCU role.

Eh, we've seen time and time again that all the starpower (and all the trailer views) in the world won't save a movie when it doesn't look particularly appealing. Audiences also clearly aren't here for blatantly obvious MCU baiting either, as MIB International proved. Maybe after this flops he'll pursue more dramatic work, even though the dramas he made during his tenure in the MCU (The Soloist, The Judge) went nowhere as well.

[Valonqar]

isn't it breaking out in SK or something?