The Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated Robert Downey Jr.'s career over the past decade, but with that (presumably) behind him, the star is moving to other high profile projects. First out of the gate is Dolittle, the latest movie version of the classic children's stories. The first trailer has been released.
The trailer doesn't really contain much in the way of plot, but it does present the magical world of Dr Dolittle who, as we all know, speaks to animals. Dolittle lives in a huge house with all his animal pals, which includes a gorilla, a duck, a stubborn parrot, who are voiced respectively by Rami Malek, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Thompson. Dolittle ends up on an epic ocean-based adventure, and while the trailer is largely dialogue-free, it reveals that Downey Jr. has made some interesting choices about his accent. Check the trailer out below.
The animal voicecast for Dolittle also includes John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Tom Holland, Ralph Fiennes, and Selena Gomez, while Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen are amongst the actors actually appearing in the film. It's directed by Stephen Gaghan, and releases on January 17, 2020.
Dolittle was shot back in early 2018 under the title The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle and was scheduled for release in April 2019. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it had to undergo extensive reshoots, overseen by Wrath of the Titans director Jonathan Liebesman, forcing Universal to push the release back nine months. The movie is based on the stories by Hugh Lofting. In 1998, Eddie Murphy starred in a hugely successful adaptation, which was followed by four sequels.
Dolittle is the second big-budget family adventure movie to get a new trailer in the past few days. On Friday, the first trailer for Jungle Cruise was released. The movie is based on Disney theme park ride and stars Dwayne Johnson.