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

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https://deadline.com/2020/01/bad-boys-for-life-dolittle-1917-weekend-box-office-1202833726/

 

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Finance sources can’t determine exactly how much Dolittle will bleed just yet, as the the pic has more offshore territories to open in; right now they’re figuring $50M or more.

 

@aladdino gee you might be right

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So, I actually saw this movie tonight, so I can provide comment, especially on family legs:)...and they won't fall off a cliff:).

 

Only 2 of my kids wanted to see this after the critics - my youngest son and younger teen daughter...and having watched the movie, I'm really sad my older son didn't see it - he'd have loved it.  My younger son, the now harsh critic who hasn't given a family movie a full A in months, gave this one an A.  My daughter gave it a thumb's up, putting it in my graded area of a B-.  And it is a B- movie.  The critics have blasted the wrong movie, and as my son says, the audience has it right.  Now, my harsh critic spouse gave it a C, but note, he gave it a C...and that's having given 3 family movies last year an F (and we didn't watch Arctic Dogs)...

 

But really, I know what the critics didn't like.  It was a movie that was a throwback 70's/80's family movie in every way, both good and bad.  It struggled to decide if it wanted to go full parody, full kid focused, or full action adventure...and it was a low key, low stakes movie, which told a simple story, but told it well, actually following from point a to b to c.  But with that said, it's a family movie.  Anyone can see and handle this movie.  

 

Even knowing what they didn't like, I'm not sure why this became the pile on hit job from critics.  But, I do know when I see all of my family this weekend for a funeral, I might encourage them to see this movie as a pick me up.  It's actually themed perfectly for them.

 

So, on this board, I would ask...before you pile on the movie, go see it, and like my husband, decide it's not for you before you say it's awful.  I mean, it's probably not for older male teens and young adults - it's not Pixar in its universality to hit everyone.  But it will make moms and dads happy they took their kids...and there aren't that many live-action fantasy action adventure movies that do that...

Edited by TwoMisfits
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2 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

So, I actually saw this movie tonight, so I can provide comment, especially on family legs:)...and they won't fall off a cliff:).

 

Only 2 of my kids wanted to see this after the critics - my youngest son and younger teen daughter...and having watched the movie, I'm really sad my older son didn't see it - he'd have loved it.  My younger son, the now harsh critic who hasn't given a family movie a full A in months, gave this one an A.  My daughter gave it a thumb's up, putting it in my graded area of a B-.  And it is a B- movie.  The critics have blasted the wrong movie, and as my son says, the audience has it right.  Now, my harsh critic spouse gave it a C, but note, he gave it a C...and that's having given 3 family movies last year an F (and we didn't watch Arctic Dogs)...

 

But really, I know what the critics didn't like.  It was a movie that was a throwback 70's/80's family movie in every way, both good and bad.  It struggled to decide if it wanted to go full parody, full kid focused, or full action adventure...and it was a low key, low stakes movie, which told a simple story, but told it well, actually following from point a to b to c.  But with that said, it's a family movie.  Anyone can see and handle this movie.  

 

Even knowing what they didn't like, I'm not sure why this became the pile on hit job from critics.  But, I do know when I see all of my family this weekend for a funeral, I might encourage them to see this movie as a pick me up.  It's actually themed perfectly for them.

 

So, on this board, I would ask...before you pile on the movie, go see it, and like my husband, decide it's not for you before you say it's awful.  I mean, it's probably not for older male teens and young adults - it's not Pixar in its universality to hit everyone.  But it will make moms and dads happy they took their kids...and there aren't that many live-action fantasy action adventure movies that do that...

What are your thoughts on RDJ in this? I heard his performance is one of the biggest beefs with critics.

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7 hours ago, JB33 said:

What are your thoughts on RDJ in this? I heard his performance is one of the biggest beefs with critics.

I didn't hate it...but I think he also struggled with the tones.  When he was with the kid, you feel shades of Spider-Man Homecoming...when he was with the animals, he was a little more all over the place.  But, I tell myself, the movie was set up to be a fantasy adventure with a purposely "off the wall" type of character...so his inconsistency is as much in character as out of it:)...

 

TLDR - He was fine, but not great:)...

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AH, the old "It's aimed at Kids" defense.

 

If the film is aimed at kids, they NEVER should have spent 175 Million on it.

Pretty clear that you could make a movie with RDJ reading names out of a phone book and his hard core fanboys would praise it.

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1 hour ago, dudalb said:

AH, the old "It's aimed at Kids" defense.

 

If the film is aimed at kids, they NEVER should have spent 175 Million on it.

Pretty clear that you could make a movie with RDJ reading names out of a phone book and his hard core fanboys would praise it.

You've got 1 thing right...while you can see the money spent, $175M is a steep price for a family movie not named Disney...even with WW doing well, and it looks like it will, it's a tough climb to a profit...

 

But, seriously, the rest of the hate on can't be earned if you haven't seen it.  It's just parroting other web viewers' experiences.  I give total credence to those who actually have watched movies (whether paid or free) and hate them (see my TROS reviews)...but hating them without a view isn't really constructive...it's what my 7 year old does after watching Nostalgia Critic on Youtube...and I tell him he can't parrot the guy until he takes the time to sit down and watch the movies the guy is talking about, b/c that guy is no expert...

 

I mean, for example, while I said the movie struggles tonally, one thing it did spectacularly well was focus on what mattered and keeping the movie moving...there was no time for boredom to set in (a big thing for younger audiences), and yet it wasn't frenetic like Star Wars 1st 45 minutes either, and it wasn't so simple that it couldn't fit in side moments and a decently funny (but could have been funnier) side plot (ala the squirrel in Ice Age).  The editors knew how to connect the plot dots and story beats so well, and how to set up a story and tell it without waste from start to finish.  I LOVE movies that can manage that task, and it is one of the biggest strengths of this movie...

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7 hours ago, dudalb said:

AH, the old "It's aimed at Kids" defense.

 

If the film is aimed at kids, they NEVER should have spent 175 Million on it.

Pretty clear that you could make a movie with RDJ reading names out of a phone book and his hard core fanboys would praise it.

WB has their new AI technology analyzing the viability of this as we speak.

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17 hours ago, JB33 said:

WB has their new AI technology analyzing the viability of this as we speak.

I actually like RDJ a lot, I just don't want to see him go down the road that Johnny Depp went down.

He needs to take some more seriolus roles, as unlike Tony Stark as you can get.

I wonder how many of these RDJ fans have seen his pre Tony Stark performances from the 90's, when we considered the most promising young actor in Hollywood, the next De Niro/Pacino. I still think his performance in "Chaplin" is the best thing he ever did.

I loved his Tony Stark as much as anybody, but he needs do some much more serious roles, as far away from Stark as he can get, rather then do what Depp did and do nothing but variations on Stark.

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On 1/17/2020 at 2:53 AM, Yandereprime101189 said:

Outside of the tiger sequence, this movie was an apocalyptic misfire

 

  Hide contents

THE TIGER DOES NOT SAY "HELLO LUNCH," a line that's all over the trailers and movies.

 

This coming from the guy that loves Michael Bay's Transformers films.

 

Eh, how do you expect "a guy that loves Michael Bay's Transformers films" - the lowest of the low in world cinema - to even begin to be able to comprehend a subtle and heartfelt, genuinely funny artistic movie like Dolittle?

 

Yes, I've just seen it.

Yes, it's great.

Yes, you gloaters in this thread suck.

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1 hour ago, dudalb said:

Uh, a lot of us were predicting what would happen with Dolittle before it opened.

 

Depending of when those prediction were made, you had the trailers, ultra late review embargo, etc....

 

How many predicted under $30M 4 days holiday weekend when it was announced ?

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1 hour ago, dudalb said:

Uh, a lot of us were predicting what would happen with Dolittle before it opened.

 

Yeah, because it's expensive.

 

But everything else was off base. The movie is very good and highly original. Downey is brilliant. This role was much fresher for him than his tired Tony 3000 Stark routine. I would watch Dolittle a second time just for him - and I love animals and CGI spectacle.

 

Also, the movie started much better than you people gloated. So there.

 

Too bad Universal chickened out and buried it here. It would have been a hit in December.

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7 minutes ago, shayhiri said:

 

Yeah, because it's expensive.

 

But everything else was off base. The movie is very good and highly original. Downey is brilliant. This role was much fresher for him than his tired Tony 3000 Stark routine. I would watch Dolittle a second time just for him - and I love animals and CGI spectacle.

 

Also, the movie started much better than you people gloated. So there.

 

Too bad Universal chickened out and buried it here. It would have been a hit in December.

Find a new shtick, guy.

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12 minutes ago, Barnack said:

 

Depending of when those prediction were made, you had the trailers, ultra late review embargo, etc....

 

How many predicted under $30M 4 days holiday weekend when it was announced ?

I predicted a bomb from the trailers, and that a movie that screamed Family Holiday Release got dumped in January ,indicating no faith in it from the studio. And that they did not spend a lot on marketing is another sign Universal knew it had a turkey on it's hands, and was cutting their losses

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3 minutes ago, dudalb said:

I predicted a bomb from the trailers, and that a movie that screamed Family Holiday Release got dumped in January ,indicating no faith in it from the studio. And that they did not spend a lot on marketing is another sign Universal knew it had a turkey on it's hands, and was cutting their losses

Those are a lot of hindsight (that I imagine the post was talking about), Universal would have never greenlighted that movie with that trailer.

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2 hours ago, dudalb said:

Find a new shtick, guy.

 

What, woman?

Become a sheep like the rest

who BAAAdmouth a movie they haven't seen

because it is a kids movie - but not the Avengers kids movie

and because a critic told them to, because she was bitter that she was thrown out from an UK showing?

 

Never! The Shay is the dog that bites the sheep's legs.

 

PS: And I'm very glad Universal threw out the ungrateful critics from their UK showings. More studios should do this. And next time they should also beat them with sticks!

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Robert Downey Jr. Leaves CAA for WME

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-downey-jr-leaves-caa-wme-1276580

 

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The move occurs in the shadow of the dismal reviews and performance of Dolittle, the $175 million tentpole that was to have launched a franchise and was to have been a cornerstone for Downey’s post-Iron Man future.

 

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