Dolittle (film)

Dolittle is an upcoming American fantasy comedy film directed by Stephen Gaghan and written by Gaghan and Thomas Shepherd. It is based on the character Doctor Dolittle created by Hugh Lofting, primarily The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. Robert Downey Jr. stars as the title character, alongside Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, Jim Broadbent and Harry Collett in live action roles; the voice cast includes John Cena, Marion Cotillard, Carmen Ejogo, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, Tom Holland, Rami Malek, Kumail Nanjiani, Craig Robinson, Octavia Spencer, Emma Thompson and Frances de la Tour.

The film will be released on January 17, 2020, by Universal Pictures, making it the first film based on Doctor Dolittle to not be distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Cast

 * Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. John Dolittle, a veterinarian who has the ability to speak to animals.
 * Harry Collett as Tommy Stubbins, Dolittle's self-appointed apprentice.
 * Antonio Banderas as Rassouli
 * Michael Sheen as Mudfly
 * Jim Broadbent
 * Jessie Buckley as Queen Victoria
 * Ralph Ineson as Arnall Stubbins
 * Kasia Smutniak

Voices

 * John Cena as Yoshi, an up-beat polar bear who bickers with Plimpton.
 * Marion Cotillard as Tutu, a fox
 * Carmen Ejogo as Regine, a lioness
 * Ralph Fiennes as Barry, a tiger
 * Selena Gomez as Betsy, a giraffe
 * Tom Holland as Jip, a dog
 * Rami Malek as Chee-Chee, an anxious gorilla
 * Kumail Nanjiani as Plimpton, a cynical ostrich who bickers with Yoshi.
 * Craig Robinson as Fleming, a mouse
 * Octavia Spencer as Dab-Dab, an enthusiastic but bird-brained duck
 * Emma Thompson as Polynesia, Dr. Dolittle's headstrong parrot who's his most trusted advisor and confidante.
 * Frances de la Tour as Ginko-Who-Soars

Production
On March 20, 2017, it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. would star in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, a feature adaptation of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. In December 2017, Harry Collett and Jim Broadbent were cast. In February 2018, Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen were cast in live action roles while Tom Holland, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, and Selena Gomez were cast to voice animals in the film. In March 2018, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, John Cena, Rami Malek, Craig Robinson, Marion Cotillard, Frances de la Tour and Carmen Ejogo joined the voice cast.

Principal production commenced mid-February in 2018. Live action scenes began filming in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria in May 2018, with further location filming at South Forest, Windsor Great Park and on the Menai Suspension Bridge in North West Wales, in June 2018.

In April 2019, it was reported the film had undergone 21 days of reshoots following poor test screenings. Director Jonathan Liebesman helped to oversee the filming alongside Gaghan while Chris McKay helped write new material, after it became clear from first cuts that the comedy and computer-generated elements of the film were not coming together as well as the producers had hoped.

In August 2019, it was reported that the film's title had been changed from The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle to Dolittle.

Release
The film was originally going to be released on May 24, 2019, by Universal Pictures but was moved from its original release date of May 24, 2019, to April 12, 2019, to avoid competition with Avengers: Endgame (which Robert Downey Jr. also starred in) until it was pushed back even further from April 12, 2019, to January 17, 2020, to avoid competition with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.