Robert Downey Jr is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Having been in the center of one of the biggest franchises ever, as Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which helped him become one of the most recognized faces in the world, there is doubt that he is certainly one of the most successful actors of all time. On top of his work as a superhero, he has also been a part of other massive projects like Oppenheimer, Sherlock Holmes, and Chaplin, which helped him to get where he is today.
On a similar spectrum is Jamie Foxx, one of the most critically acclaimed actors of recent times. He has starred in many respected projects like Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, They Cloned Tyrone, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and The Burial, all of which help showcase just how talented an actor he is. One would expect that, with just how respected and well-known these two actors are, any project that they are in together would do extremely well. This, however, was not the case, as we saw with The Soloist.
Robert Downey Jr’s The Soloist Should Have Been A Hit
The Soloist was a 2009 film with an exceptional cast and seemingly really good odds. It features actors like Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Hollander, and Octavia Spencer, as well as was directed by Joe Wright, the mastermind behind films like the 2005 hit, Pride & Prejudice, as well as classics like Atonement, and Anna Karenina, it had all the opportunities to be a hit.
The film follows the story of Steve Lopez, played by Downey, whose life is crumbling in front of his eyes, with his marriage being on the rocks and having a disappointing job as a Los Angeles columnist. After meeting a homeless man named Nathaniel Ayers, he begins to write articles about him to try to understand his life. The plot of this film is certainly one that would captivate a certain type of audience.
But This Wasn’t The Case With The Soloist
Despite all that it had in its favor, it is disappointing to find out that the film did extremely poorly. One would expect that the fact that this film was released after Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man success, as well as Jamie Foxx, who had also become a well-established actor by then, would help boost its viewership, ratings, and profit, however, this was not the case.
According to The Numbers, the film had a budget of $60 million. Unfortunately, the movie wasn’t even able to break even with the money it earned after being released. The film earned a total of almost $32 million at the domestic box office. Including the international office, the film grossed a total of $38.5 million, which is extremely unfortunate for a movie that had so much going for it.
