He just seems popular due to the Marvel brand but as a stand alone actor he is not a box office draw. Same goes for the likes of Hemsworth and Evans.
shareTo me it's not about star power anymore/who is in the movie. I'll watch a movie with a bunch of "nobodies." (Most recent movie I can think of is IT 2017, except for the kid from Stranger Things.) I go off the trailers. If the trailers get me interested in a movie, then I'll go see it. Plus a lot of superhero movies I never heard of the actors until they get cast in the movies. Didn't really know Christian Bale until Batman Begins. Same thing with a lot of Marvel Characters. Probably the first major actor I knew in a Marvel movie (where the character is in the name of the title) was Paul Rudd in Ant-Man. I knew Robert Downey Jr., but the only movie I remember seeing him in before Iron Man was U.S. Marshals. Of course I know about Fury and Black Widow, but those were side characters. I'm talking the major superheroes. So other than Paul Rudd, I'm kind of going into these Marvel movies not really knowing the actors, or even superhero movies altogether. They are "nobodies" to me. I also prefer "nobodies" more because my expectations aren't that high since I don't know them and stuff or seen them in other stuff. I'm getting to know them in whatever movie I see them in first. So for me it's not about star power anymore. That's the last thing I look at. Unless it's an actor/actress I don't care for. Then I might skip the movie altogether.
shareI think the problem is the decline in Hollywood screenwriting and directing.
30 years ago, the average pop-corn movie was quite well done. Nowadays, scripts are shit, direction not much better, not to say how often they're trying to sell the political agenda.
Back then, knowing that the script and direction would be decent enough and the movie surely would be good fun and zero politics, people used to follow their favorite actors. That's not a smart choice anymore.
I agree. RDJ was not box office gold before Iron Man, he won't be after. He's always been a quirky independent sort of actor who works best in ensembles. He is not a leading man.
Someone above points out Sherlock, certainly RDJ's biggest success outside the MCU, but I would argue the star of those movies is Guy Ritchie's filmmaking.
They need to make another Sherlock ASAP. The second was even better than the first, can’t believe it came out nearly a decade ago. An older Downey Jr could do great stuff with this role.
shareI believe they are. But Guy ain't directing it. Or he wasn't. It got delayed. Maybe he'll still get on board. Currently slated for December 2021. But that's definitely the movie RDJ needs to kick start his post Marvel career properly.
shareHmm. Without Ritchie I have doubts. He brought style, wit, intelligence and energy. Sherlock won’t work with some hack.
sharei heard they are. Someone else said the same thing on another thread.
shareMOVIE STARS AND BOX OFFICE DRAWS AND GURANTEED HITS ARE ALL EXTINCT..IN THE MODERN AGE OF EVERYONE HAS 7 SCREENS,STREAMING COMPANIES REPRODUCINGLIKE HORNY RABBITS,HIGH THEATER TICKET PRICES,ETC ETC ETC...
shareTotally agree with what you said, though I’d still watch some films because of an actor I love but I know it’s a thing of the past that no one else does it anymore.
When I go to see a film I go by the trailer or if it’s MCU or James Bond and maybe Mission impossible.
I either go by trailer or franchise. MCU and Bond for me it’s a most see in theaters and a RDJ lol
Just tossing Iron Man in a bullshit movie and hoping for a hit is wishful thinking.
shareThe problem with this film isn't RDJ or the film itself, the real problem is the timing of when they released it. I've seen many bad kiddie movies make lots of money if they release it at the right time of the year, like Christmas when families tend to take their rugrats to the movies... but why they decided to release a PG rated kiddie flick in mid January is beyond me. This is not the best time to put out a kids movies its probably one of the worst times.
shareThey released it this time of year, because they know it isn't good, but there is very little competition this time of year, so people will go by default.
shareSimple straightforward kiddie movies just don't work today. I think Dolittle and the Dora movie are decent kids movie, but my kid doesn't like them. And apparently also the market. Both of them tanked hard.
Today's kids are different than when we were kids. Unlike us, they are more exposed to lots of movies. How many reeaally good kids movies we have watched when we were 5 for example, maybe 5 Disney movies and Tom & Jerry. And lots of low budget Saturday morning cartoons. Which admitedly are, aside from nostalgia, pretty bad or mediocre at best.
Kids today watched all of those classics PLUS many excellent Pixar films, Dreamworks and LEGO movies, Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, Studio Ghibli's absolutely fantastic animes, etc.
Their standard is different than 5-yo us in the 80s. So a movie like Dolittle might be fine by us, but not for them. They need faster, more sophisticated, edgier movies; like Jumanji, the one with The Rock. Believe it or not my kid loves that movie, and the sequel to some extent, at least way better than Dolittle. And the box office showed.
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