Top Robert Downey Jr. Movies

Born April 4th 1965, Robert John Downey Jr. is without a doubt one of the most popular actors right now. Very few have had comebacks as spectacular as his and even fewer were offered the chance to call themselves Charlie Chaplin, Tony Stark, a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude, or Sherlock Holmes. Actually scratch that, no other actors can claim such a feat.

With the release of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Robert Downey Jr. comes back to the big screen so I figured why not take a look at his past movies in order of their box office popularity in North America over the years. Me and myself pondered a good 2-3 minutes whether I should use unadjusted or adjusted for inflation numbers. The former won so here are the top Robert Downey Jr. movies of all time, adjusted for inflation.

10. The Shaggy Dog (2006) $74.2 million ($61.1 million unadjusted) – I really tried to get this film out of the top 10 but there was no way to do so. You know how even the best actors have that movie they try not to associate themselves with? Well Robert Downey Jr. has a few of those and this is one. As I look back The Shaggy Dog might not be as bad as some other children movies today but that’s not saying much. If you have an 8-year-old that loves dogs, they should like this movie.

9. Gothika (2003) $78.7 million ($59.7M) – A forgettable supernatural horror that stars Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz alongside Robert Downey Jr.. It’s not a bad movie but unless you’re a fan of the actors, director (Mathieu Kassovitz), or genre, I can’t recommend Gothika.

8. Natural Born Killers (1994) $95.7 million ($50.2M) – In this Oliver Stone thriller Robert Downey Jr. plays a selfish TV journalist with absolutely no morals. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis lead as husband and wife serial killers Mickey Knox and Mallory Knox. Natural Born Killers is a brutal film that deserves your attention.

7. U.S. Marshals (1998) $97 million ($57.1M) – I don’t think I ever saw this one so I should probably add it to my queue (not Netflix). Anyway, besides Robert Downey Jr. this film also stars Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes. Ok, now I definitely have to see it.

6. Due Date (2010) $99.9 million ($100.5M) – What happens when you take The Hangover director Todd Phillips and make a road trip comedy with Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifianakis? Well, it was supposed to be one of the funniest movies of the year. What we got instead was an R-rated version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, a funnier and better movie with a lot more heart. So I say watch that movie and then catch Due Date sometime later when you’re really bored.

5. Tropic Thunder (2008) $122.5 million ($110.5M) – This movie is definitely not for everyone but for those that can appreciate its share stupidity, Tropic Thunder is an instant classic that makes fun of Hollywood like few flicks dare. Arguably one of the most quotable comedies of the last decade, Tropic Thunder features an impressive cast lead by director/actor Ben Stiller. Robert Downey Jr. plays Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus playing a black sergeant named Lincoln Osiris. This part actually got Downey Jr. his second Oscar nomination (first was for Chaplin). Also extremely memorable in his smaller role is an almost unrecognizable Tom Cruise.

4. Back to School (1986) $195.7 million ($91.2M) – I vaguely remember this movie mostly thanks to the late Rodney Dangerfield. Like many before, this is your typical 80′s comedy and if I’m not mistaking, Robert Downey Jr. plays a college student here. If you happen to catch this, look forward to that.

3. Sherlock Holmes (2009) $213.8 million ($209M) – Besides the accent, there’s really nothing to complain about Robert Downey Jr.’s take on the popular Arthur Conan Doyle character. British director Guy Ritchie creates a decent adaptation here with his unique style making for a fun if flawed movie. Jude Law plays an equally great Dr. Watson to Downey’s Sherlock Holmes. Actually the bromance between the two characters is the best part of this film.

2. Iron Man 2 (2010) $312.8 million ($312.4M) – The sequel to the extremely satisfying 2008 original, Iron Man 2 builds on that movie but not necessarily in better ways. A lot of the charm is lost here and what we get instead is a good sequel to a spectacular movie that follows below.

1. Iron Man (2008) $352.9 million ($318.4M) – This is the role Robert Downey Jr. was born to play and director Jon Favreau knows it, using that to the fullest extent. Iron Man is the perfect summer blockbuster and one of the best superhero movies of all time. In a year when The Dark Knight got the most accolades, Iron Man offered the most entertainment, at least that’s my opinion.

At the end I have to mention a very special movie that didn’t make this top 10, Chaplin, the 1992 biopic. Based on the troubled and controversial life of actor Charlie Chaplin, this film deserves your time if only to see Robert Downey Jr. in probably his best role yet. Before playing Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey Jr. was the man that became Charlie Chaplin for a movie 19 years ago.

What is your top Robert Downey Jr. movie?

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Mickey Rourke isn’t known for keeping his opinions and criticisms to himself, and while promoting Immortals the actor spoke about his disappointment of Whiplash becoming “a one-dimensional bad guy” in Iron Man 2, and said most of his performance ended up on the cutting room floor.

From Crave Online:

It’s like when I did Ivan Vanko in Iron Man, I fought… You know, I explained to Justin Theroux, to the writer, and to [Jon] Favreau that I wanted to bring some other layers and colors, not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenging bad guy. And they allowed me to do that. Unfortunately, the [people] at Marvel just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy, so most of the performance ended up the floor.

Well, you know, it is f**king too bad, but it’s their loss. If they want to make mindless comic book movies, then I don’t want to be a part of that. I don’t want to have to care so much and work so hard, and then fight them for intelligent reasoning, and just because they’re calling the shots they… You know, I didn’t work for three months on the accent and all the adjustments and go to Russia just so I could end up on the floor. Because that can make somebody say at the end of the day, oh f**k ‘em, I’m just going to mail it in. But I’m not that kind of guy. I’m never going to mail it in.

Rourke may have a point as Red Skull was a bit one-dimensional in Captain America: The First Avenger, although saying that Loki was a great villain in Thor, so Marvel seems to be hit and miss in the villain dimension department.

Rourke appears to be in a critical mood as of late. He was set to shoot Seven Psychopaths with Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken for Oscar-winning writer and director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges), but in an interview with Movieline Rourke called the director a “jerkoff” and, when asked if he was still in the movie, said “he can go play with himself.” I take it that’s a no, then.

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Marvel has been watching Emily Blunt for a numbers of year now. They originally wanted the actress for Black Widow in Iron Man 2 but 20th Century Fox still had her under contract to make another film with them following her appearance in The Devil Wears Prada. As a result Blunt had to pull out to film Gulliver’s Travels (she’s probably regretting that) and was replaced by Scarlett Johansson.

They then approached her for the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger, however Blunt was close to signing on to other projects at the time, so the role went to Hayley Atwell instead. After all of these offers and close calls will we ever see Emily Blunt in a superhero movie?

Collider asked her that very question while the actress was on the rounds promoting The Adjustment Bureau.

Do you think you’ll ever be in a Marvel movie?

Blunt: I’ve been offered certain parts, [but] either through scheduling or it just not being quite the right thing for me I haven’t done them. But I think for me, being in some kind of superhero movie it just has to be the right time and the right thing. I’m not prepared to sign onto many movies at one time.

So you don’t want a 9-picture contract?

Blunt: Not really. I just can’t, I don’t wanna do that. I think the joy of the job for me is the about the unknown and “who knows what’s coming next” so to feel like I’m straight-jacketed in some way might be tricky. But at the same time, I love what they do and I think that they make amazing superhero movies. So if something came along that was right, I would definitely consider it.

You watch the video interview here.

I suppose she has a point about the handcuffs Marvel places on it’s actors (Samuel L. Jackson is signed for 9 movies, Chris Evans for 6). Playing someone’s girlfriend in movie after movie would prevent her from taking on potentially meatier roles.

Personally I thought Blunt would have made a great Catwoman, but seeing as Anne Hathaway has that one we’ll have to hold out for the possibility of Lois Lane appearing in Blunt’s future. She’ll no doubt be on the short-list.

Which comic book character, if any, do you think Blunt should play in future movies?

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Sequel after sequel, adaptations and for once (in a long time) the worldwide top 10 matched the North American top 10. By matched I mean the same 10 movies that were there are here, the difference is in their order as you will see after the break.

10. How to Train Your Dragon $494.9 million

Just $1.7 million made the difference between this and Clash of the Titans. In the end we can say quality triumphed.

9. Despicable Me $527.8 million

What more can I say that wasn’t already said here, impressive, impressive and impressive again. $69 million budget, $527.8 million worldwide box office, now that’s what I call return on investment.

8. Tangled $522.3 million – projected to finish with over $550 million

$194 million in North America was impressive but to get $328 million more from around the world is really something and this is still going strong in many countries. Sure, the reported budget is somewhere around $260 million, making this by far the most expensive animated flick ever, but as I mentioned some time ago, that cost also includes development of previous versions of Rapunzel, all ultimately canned. Tangled managed to not only pay for itself but also those projects, all the more amazing.

7. Iron Man 2 $622.1 million

Less amazing was Iron Man 2 with only a slightly higher number then the $585.1 million that Iron man made worldwide back in 2008.

6. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $693.5 million

While this made a bit more in North America, it actually made less around the world ($393 million versus $413.2 million) so it came short of the $709.8 million of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. This series might have hit the maximum it can ever expect to achieve. Breaking Dawn Part 1 in November this year can prove me right or wrong.

5. Shrek Forever After $750 million

While in the US Shrek is dropping with every new release, outside the thing actually grows (in money, not attendance, obviously). This 4th Shrek reached an all time series high of $511.2 million, more then twice as much as it did in North America. We might just see Shrek again after all, I mean who can say no to so much money.

4. Inception $823.6 million

We finally get to the big boys starting with Inception. Also not much more to say here so I will leave it to this, The Dark Knight made $468.5 million outside North America, Inception made $531 million. All in all this should be good news for The Dark Knight Rises, coming in 2012.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 $948.3 million

The first Harry Potter made $974.7 million worldwide and the closest to that has been this one. Part 2 coming this summer should ultimate become (thanks in no small part to 3D) the highest grossing in the series.

2. Alice in Wonderland $1,024.3 million

Maybe we didn’t get another Avatar in2010 but what we got instead are 2 titles grossing over $1 billion worldwide, each. Alice in Wonderland was the first one and it was also the first 3D movie that came after Avatar, definitely no coincidence here.

1. Toy Story 3 $1,063.2 million

This is what happens when you have a highly anticipated movie that actually manages to meet expectations, this is the kind of movie that you just have to see regardless of age, skin color or religion. Yeah sure, if you start digging you notice that it is number 1 mostly thanks to the $415 million it has made in North America and that Alice in Wonderland with $690.1 million and Harry Potter 7 with $654.8 million made more internationally but Toy Story 3 is the highest grossing Pixar movie to date, both in North America and around the world and those two numbers put together add up to more then any other title this last year.

Note: I put a picture of Alice in Wonderland up there because Toy Story 3 already had its picture a week ago when I did the top 10 for North America, so it was only fair to give Alice a bit of credit also, after all it did make more money internationally.

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Now that nothing is moving up and down anymore and everything is finally in place we can take a final (we not really, you’ll see soon) look at 2010, more specifically the 10 highest grossing 2010 released movies in North America, after the break.

10. Tangled $193.4 million

What is that you say, a mistake? How can an animated Disney movie not made by Pixar be in a top 10, why you would have to go all the way to 1999 to see another such feat. Tarzan with $171 million was 6th that year. Well no mistakes here, Tangled is the hit Disney waited a decade to come.

9. How to Train Your Dragon $217.5 million

Ok, quick reminder here, action + animation – talking animals =  bad box office prospects. Well obviously since this is in 9th place you can guess we have right here the exception to that rule not to mention it got a frigging Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. DreamWorks are moving forward with a sequel scheduled for 2013.

8. Shrek Forever After $238.7 million

The final chapter in the Shrek saga is also the worst box office performer but all is good for DreamWorks because as one falls (Shrek), another will rise (Dragon). Now don’t get me wrong, $238 million is still a lot of money but coming from a series that peaked at $441.2 million in 2004 with Shrek 2, it looks like this ogre is starting to run on fumes.

7. Despicable Me $251.5 million

Ok, notice a trend going on here? Let me see, animated, animated, animated and animated, yeap, definitely something is going on here. Basically Despicable Me performed beyond even the most wild expectations and to make things even more impressive, this was the first animated feature for studio Illumination Entertainment. Best of all, it only cost $69 million (a fraction of the normal cost of this movies), obviously a sequel is already in production.

6. Inception $292.5 million

Hail to the king baby, Nolan somehow managed to do it again. This and Despicable Me are the only original works found in this top 10, everything else is either a sequel or adapted from something so give it up once again for Chris Nolan cause he really is the man. He had the guts to take his dream project and make it into a $200 million epic (props to Warner also because it takes a lot of confidence in a man to finance this kind of thing) without sacrificing nothing of his vision while also making it a huge commercial hit. Anyone else might have tried to dumb this down but not Nolan, nope, not Nolan.

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 $293.4 million

The 7th in the Harry Potter series exactly in line with what we have come to expect from this already historical box office performing franchise. Next summer the final chapter will go for the Potter record ($317.5 million) with the help of 3D.

4. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $300.5 million

Ok, I have to hand it to the vampire soap opera, it finally managed to beat Harry Potter (but only in North America). Also in the tradition of Harry Potter the final chapter of this series will be split in 2 parts, first one coming in November.

3. Iron Man 2 $312.4 million

Don’t know about you guys but I was expecting more from this, at least more then what Iron Man made in 2008 ($318.4 million). I mean everything was in place but it just forgot to click. So, can the 3rd make more or is this the best we’ll ever see from Iron Man, The Avengers will tell us in 2012.

2. Alice in Wonderland $334.1 million

In 2005 Warner released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to $206.4 million. Alice in Wonderland comes from the same Tim Burton – Johnny Depp collaboration this time with Disney behind it. A year ago I could not picture this making Charlie and the Chocolate Factory numbers and look at it now. But this is nothing, wait until you see the worldwide numbers.

1. Toy Story 3 $415 million

What a wonderful history this series has, Toy Story back in 1995 was the first feature film for Pixar and it made $191.7 million. I was 8 years old when I first saw it in a theater with my class, I remember like it was yesterday. Back then it was something to behold, unlike anything I had ever seen. Toy Story was the highest grossing movie of 1995. Forward to 1999 and Toy Story 2 is released to even more success, $245.8 million, enough for 3rd that year. 11 years later and a total of 15 years since Pixar started this series, Toy Story 3 is out finishing one of the most beautiful and loved stories of all time with the success it deserved. While it took Pixar 15 years to get back on top at the box office, they have always been number 1 when it comes to quality animation.

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When Don Cheadle was absent from the big Avengers reveal at Comic-Con it looked like James Rhodes/War Machine wouldn’t be appearing in the movie like previous reports suggested. Cheadle recently confirmed that we won’t be seeing him in Joss Whedon’s movie, but he did reveal that Marvel are in the early stages of a possible War Machine spin-off.

From MTV:

“I don’t think he shows up in ['Avengers'],” said Cheadle. “I think he’s kind of a lone wolf.”

“They’re developing it now, they’re working on that,” Cheadle told MTV News when asked about a “War Machine” movie. “I think they’ve hired a writer, so we’ll see how it goes. It would be a lot of fun.”

Hiring a writer is the first step, but whether War Machine is a big enough priority at Marvel to get the spin-off made remains to be seen. Robert Downey. Jr will eventually leave his Iron Man role which could pave the way for War Machine to step up, but that won’t be until after Iron Man 3 in 2013. Perhaps IM3 could be used to set War Machine‘s spin-off up.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Visual Effects branch has today chosen the seven films in contention for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for the 83rd Academy Awards. A list of 15 movies was drawn up last month, and now from these seven only three will go on to be nominated on January 25th.

Here are the contenders in alphabetical order:

- Alice in Wonderland
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- Hereafter
- Inception
- Iron Man 2
- Scott Pilgrim vs the World
- TRON: Legacy

Which select few do you think will make it through to the final 3? Last year it was a battle between Avatar, Star Trek and District 9, with Avatar obviously taking the gold.

The nominations will be chosen after a 15-minute screening of each film and its effects, followed by a Q&A.

Update: According to the press release Academy “members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.” So it looks like they have increased the number of films nominated this year.

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Here’s a blow to Iron Man fans. According to The Vulture Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau “has just informed Marvel Studios that he won’t direct a third Iron Man film.” Marvel has already set a May 3rd 2013 release date for the film, and the company has now started the search for another director.

So why has Favreau left the franchise? No reason has been given, but the director said last week that “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers” and because of that he doesn’t know where the third film would go. Could he be frustrated that the future of Iron Man is no longer in his hands, and he would have to pick up from where someone else (Joss Whedon) left off?

Around the time Iron Man 2 was released there was speculation that Favreau was unhappy with Marvel for using Iron Man 2 as a big trailer for The Avengers. Marvel has had its Avengers plan worked out for a while now, and that may have conflicted with Favreau’s idea for what he wanted to do with the sequel.

Vulture also says that money may be an issue (as it always seem to be with Marvel, see Edward Norton). Apparently the director would likely “command $12 million to $15 million up front, plus a 15 percent percent of the gross after the film recouped”, which, along with Robert Downey Jr. pay would mean less money for Marvel and Disney.

Whatever the reason, i’m sure we’ll be hearing more from Marvel, Favreau and Downey Jr. on the matter over the upcoming months. Marvel will now be looking for other directors, ones that will need to meet Downey’s approval.

Any director suggestions? (Nobody say Brett Ratner)

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today released their short list of 15 films currently in contention for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for the 83rd Academy Awards. As usual, the list is a mix of critical darlings, box office failures, comic book movies, sequels and originals.

Here are the 15 films in alphabetical order:

• Alice in Wonderland
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Clash of the Titans
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
• Hereafter
• Inception
• Iron Man 2
• The Last Airbender
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Scott Pilgrim vs the World
• Shutter Island
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
• TRON: Legacy
• Unstoppable

Members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee will narrow the list down to seven in early January, prior to the announcement of the Oscar nominations on Tuesday, January 25, 2011.

Which select few do you think will make it through to the final 3? Last year it was a battle between Avatar, Star Trek and District 9, with Avatar obviously taking the gold.

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Filmonic has been given the opportunity to give away 2 copies of Iron Man 2 on DVD, which will be released on September 28th.

For your chance to win tweet the following message on your Twitter account (if you have one):

Retweet to win: @filmonic is giving away a copy of #IronMan2 out on DVD & Blu-ray 9/28! RT this msg 4 a chance to win! http://bit.ly/d5jqCV

Two winners will be chosen on Friday and will receive a copy of Iron Man 2 on DVD. Good luck!

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