Growing up, I loved Doctor Doolittle. No, not the one with Eddie Murphy, that was garbage. I’m talking about the 1967 original version starring Rex Harrison. Sure, it wasn’t a great movie and the special effects looked like they were made out of cardboard, but it was fun. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the series was rebooted with Eddie Murphy in the lead. That film then spawned two sequels and two spin-offs (Dr Dolittle: Tail To the Chief, and Dr Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts). There was even an “Adventures of Young Dr Dolittle” film in 2011 starring Tim Curry. My point is that it feels like they’ve squeezed more than enough blood from this stone. At least, that was what I thought.
THR is reporting that Robert Downey Jr is set to bring the franchise back with the upcoming film, ‘The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle.’ The movie will come out through Universal and is being re-written directed by Stephen Gaghan, the writer and director of Syriana and Gold.
An almost bigger question than why make this film is when? Downey Jr is busier now than probably any other time in his career. He’s about to start filming his final two Avengers films with the Infinity War, he’s also working on a new HBO series based on Perry Mason, Sherlock Holmes 3, and a biopic on John R. Brinkley with Richard Linklater.