Osmosis Jones
Release Date:
August 10, 2001
Hmmm...Animated comedy/action film. Disney isn't involved? Uh-oh.
This one must have looked good to Warner Bros. execs on paper a few years ago. The animators behind such projects as The Iron Giant, Aladdin, Prince of Egypt and Antz, from the directors of There's Something About Mary, the voice talent of Chris Rock and physical humor from Bill Murray. It has green-light written all over it. Then why does the trailer make this movie look awful? Is this another doomed, run-of-the-mill, non-Disney animated film?
Chris Rock is Osmosis Jones, and in the film, he and Drix, played by David Hyde-Pierce team up to fight a virus, played by Laurence Fishburne, that is making Bill Murray's Frank sick. Animation in the style of the Iron Giant is used to show the happenings going on in the live-action Bill Murray. Even the premise sounds like a winner.
The mix of live action and animation really got started with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in June of 1988, and was last used semi-successfully in Space Jam, starring Michael Jordan. Space Jam cast a variety of characters from the Looney Tunes franchise, and WB opened it to $27.5 million in November, 1996. Unfortunately, Osmosis Jones won't have the benefit of the built-in audience that Space Jam had, or even Roger Rabbit, for that matter.
This film needs a serious marketing push quick, and it will be interesting to see how wide an audience this can draw. Already toned down from a PG-13 to a PG, it battles against American Pie 2, a re-release of Spy Kids in a Special Edition, and the second weekend of the potential kids' sleeper, The Princess Diaries. At this point, any form of cross over will be tough to do, as the dog days of summer begin. To do well, Osmosis Jones will need to perform strongly in its target demographic of young boys, and try to appeal even more in the following weeks, hopefully due to good word-of-mouth.
It should be said that Osmosis Jones does have a great Web site, at www.osmosisjones.com, and that the news media will probably notice this release and cover it well. In fact, Variety ran a story on July 18th about the style of animation used in the film. It can be found here. More stories like this will help build further awareness, but without a rock-and-roll TV ad, Osmosis Jones could quickly slip away from the summer box office battle. (John Hamann/BOP)
Comparison films for Osmosis Jones |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
| Space Jam |
11/15/96 | 27.53 |
37.55 |
2650 |
10389.00 |
13632.6 |
90.44 |
123.38 |
3.29 |
| Flubber |
11/28/97 | 27.15 |
35.66 |
2641 |
10280.00 |
12990.0 |
92.97 |
122.13 |
2.59 |
| Addams Family, The |
11/22/91 | 24.20 |
34.66 |
2411 |
10037.00 |
13827.7 |
113.50 |
162.56 |
4.69 |
| Casper * |
5/26/95 | 22.09 |
30.62 |
2714 |
8139.00 |
10852.0 |
100.33 |
139.07 |
4.54 |
| Antz |
10/2/98 | 17.20 |
22.11 |
2449 |
7023.00 |
8685.2 |
90.71 |
116.62 |
5.27 |
| Chicken Run |
6/23/00 | 17.11 |
19.14 |
2491 |
6869.00 |
7391.5 |
106.79 |
119.46 |
6.24 |
| Prince of Egypt, The |
12/18/98 | 14.52 |
18.66 |
3118 |
4657.00 |
5759.2 |
101.22 |
130.13 |
6.97 |
| Addams Family Values |
11/19/93 | 14.12 |
20.56 |
2577 |
5479.00 |
7675.9 |
46.29 |
67.42 |
3.28 |
| Small Soldiers |
7/10/98 | 14.05 |
18.06 |
2539 |
5534.00 |
6843.8 |
55.11 |
70.85 |
3.92 |
| Hook |
12/13/91 | 13.52 |
19.36 |
2197 |
6154.00 |
8478.2 |
119.65 |
171.37 |
8.59 |
| Jumanji |
12/15/95 | 11.08 |
15.35 |
2487 |
4455.00 |
5940.0 |
100.48 |
139.28 |
9.07 |
| Iron Giant |
8/6/99 | 5.73 |
6.82 |
2179 |
2630.00 |
3002.8 |
23.16 |
27.59 |
4.04 |
| Cool World |
7/10/92 | 5.56 |
8.07 |
1448 |
3840.00 |
5366.7 |
14.11 |
20.50 |
2.54 |
| Monkeybone |
2/23/01 | 2.69 |
2.87 |
1722 |
1559.00 |
1600.4 |
5.33 |
5.68 |
1.98 |
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