Universal Wins ‘The Voyage Of Doctor Dolittle’ With Robert Downey Jr As The Critter Whisperer 

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Universal Wins ‘The Voyage Of Doctor Dolittle’ With Robert Downey Jr As The Critter Whisperer

, with Robert Downey Jr playing the title character and Stephen Gaghan directing and rewriting a Tom Shepherd script based on the 1920s children’s books by Hugh Lofting. Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum will produce for their Roth/Kirschenbaum Films, alongside Susan Downey from Team Downey.

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Several studios chased this one hard. I’d heard 20th Century Fox — which made the 1967 Rex Harrison film and the redo films that starred Eddie Murphy — and Sony were in the mix at one point or another over the weekend.

A package for a branded family tentpole starring Downey — who has propelled two big franchises with his Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes characters — understandably doesn’t come cheap. Most studios don’t play in the first-dollar gross sandbox anymore, but I’ve heard this was the exception, a throwback auction where the ask was a first-dollar gross outlay around 25% on a film that will carry an event-film budget possibly north of $160 million. The dealmakers at CAA — which reps Downey and Gaghan and shopped the deal — chose a good weekend to go market with a potential global family franchise, as Disney’s

was breaking records and demonstrating what happens when a family film catches the global zeitgeist. The intention is to start production on

early next year, once Downey has completed back-to-back installments of

Roth has experience producing such public domain-derived family fare as

. Gaghan is new to the family-film arena. He most recently directed the Matthew McConaughey-starrer

. CAA repped Gaghan, Downey and Roth/Kirschenbaum; Gaghan and Downey are lawered by Hansen Jacobson and Roth/Kirschenbaum by Ziffren Brittenham. Shepherd is WME, Think Tank Management and Jackoway/Tyerman.

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Interesting ….I mean it can’t possibly be worse than the Eddie Murphy one right.

Please don’t make this a musical. The 1967 version sucks because of the awful songs.

Do people even care about Doctor Dolittle anymore? Do kids today even know who the character is? Enought to warant a $160 million budget? Downey needs to go back to dramas once he’s finished with Infinity Wars

Downey is so done in my book. There is nothing he can do as a performer that will get me excited to see him in anything at this point.

This could work if RDJ is kept way from the script.

Is this a joke? $160 million for a Dr. Dolittle film… hahaha! I love this town!

The real hero here is CAA, creating a weekend bidding war over a package with three tired elements. A dated character no longer in the zeitgeist, a director with a ten year string of flops, and a lead actor who isn’t worth the cash outside the Marvel universe.

What does this mean for Sherlock Holmes 3?

i love RDJ, but his Holmes shares only a name and a gender with the literary character and nothing else.

What’s next, RDJ as Professor Henry Higgins with Eliza Doolittle played by Lady Gaga? Agh, did I say that out loud..

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