Many of his films in recent years apart from Iron Man or the Avengers, and Sherlock Holmes haven't been hits. Why wasn't the Judge such a success and a box office hit? I don't remember, lets see. Was it not advertised as much, were the trailers and tv spots not appealing enough. What mores does he need?
sharelol. "Except for Iron Man, and Avengers, and Sherlock Holmes...." You might just as well say, "Except for over half the movies he's been in in the last half-decade, he isn't doing very well."
Except Due Date was quite profitable and Tropic Thunder did okay. The Soloist and The Judge were the only lemons of the past 6 yrs. Maybe he should stay away from films that start with "the."
Throughout his career, even if his movies didn't do well, he was always singled out as being the saving grace. That is the opposite of box office poison.
"The good guys always win...even in the 80s!"
I say except Iron Man, Avengers and Sherlock Holmes because the character is more important than him as an actor. Those films would have made money regardless of who was the lead. People see those films for the characters due to them being large series/franchises, not for RDJ.
Due Date wasn't really as profitable as you clam. It made over $209 million worldwide, which is great but it's total budget is listed as $108 million. And the film had hype due to Todd Philips just releasing the Hangover the year before, it was a money scam.
He was only a supporting character in Tropic Thunder, sure he helped with the box office but Ben Stiller had more to do with that. And same with Due Date, the film had such a high budget, it didn't make a profit.
I disagree. Casting RDJ as Tony Stark was, I think, the main reason the movie (and thus the launch of the MCU) succeeded. Iron Man could so easily have been another Green Hornet or Fantastic Four. It's not like anyone knew the character as they do Batman or Superman.
As for Holmes, he's been done to death, but Downey brought a different spin to the character that was much appreciated. If it hadn't been, the second movie would have bombed.
Box Office Mojo lists the budget for Due Date at $65M and the worldwide gross at $211M. I'd say it was a decent hit.
Agreed on Tropic Thunder, but his contribution was important.
Iron Man was big enough for the masses to know, and what I mean is that had another actor been Iron Man, I'm sure the success would have been the same. It was a success also because the original film was good and met with great reviews.
Due Date had a "total" budget of $108 million
http://pro.boxoffice.com/statistics/movies/due-date-2010?q=due%20date
He was only a supporting character in Tropic Thunder, sure he helped with the box office but Ben Stiller had more to do with that.
Supporting characters very often steal the show and that Tropic Thunder character definitely got the lion's share of the attention, both in pop culture and at the Oscars.
And just because movies don't make a profit doesn't mean "Oh, it must be the actors." In fact, the actors are usually the last thing that should be blamed. It just sounds like if someone brings up a movie that did well, you'll say it wasn't due to RDJ. And then you'll bring up a movie that didn't do well and assume that must have been because of RDJ. You're convinced of your point and just keep molding every example to fit it.
"The good guys always win...even in the 80s!"
"He was only a supporting character in Tropic Thunder"...
I believe there was no main character in TT, it's an ensemble cast.
I agree with everything the other two posters wrote.
The original film was basically Robert Downey Jr. improvisation, though.
"They had no script, man. They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn't know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, 'You got any ideas?' Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on."
Bridges, director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges's role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes, the actor recounts. Bridges says that the entire production was probably saved by the improv prowess of the film's director and star.
http://io9.com/5417310/jeff-bridges-admits-iron-man-movie-had-no-script
So the answer to what you say is no. With a different actor the success may not have been as easy because Downey and Favreau did the film. And probably that's the reason Favreau wanted Downey so much.
The only question remains. Will you yield... in time?