What was the Reason Osmosis Jones failed?

[WBArchivist]

The Marketing Execs ignorantly blame the 2D animation - but what was the real problem? Tell me what you think!

[Vin]

Originally posted by WBArchivist
The Marketing Execs ignorantly blame the 2D animation - but what was the real problem? Tell me what you think!

The marketing. I didn't see the movie itself because my family and I were turned off by the ads that we saw.

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

I say marketing....because of the whole time OJ still had a chance to be a hit, I only saw ONE ad total for it! A small newspaper ad...
....seriously. How many ads did you see for it? I doubt many people saw many....thus, they barely heard of it, and didn't bother to see it.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Gotta be marketing. It simply didn't look interesting at all.

[Lachesis]

I saw quite a few on CN and Comedy Central, but all of them were rather uneven and sporadic. They changed tactics halfway through and started focusing on the animation rather than the live action in commercials (a la Shrek), but I guess the damage was done before then.

I, personally, was seriously turned off by the live-action sequences, which was almost all that was focused on by the marketing until maybe the last week before the film opened. From the few interviews and reviews I've read, I think this was supposed to be a kids' film that got seriously out of hand when the Farellys got involved (the live action bits were only supposed to be bookends, if I remember right) and had to be recut with dialogue changes for the target audience. I think something similar happened to Henry Selick's "Monkeybone," which even LESS people heard about.

[Psycho Fox]

Well for WB that was pretty decent marketting when you think of what WB usally gives to their animated features.

Still it was not enough for the film.

[The Mad Hatter]

Marketing, amen. The trailers I saw for the flick looked highly lame.

And I don't think Osmosis Jones started out as a kid's flick and got warped with the Farrellys... I think it was the other way around. The animators had a sequence where the heroes went to "Gonad's Gym," but it got cut because the execs freaked out.

And it might have been a mistake to concentrate on the Farrelly's involvement... not only were the sequences they did with the flick pretty boring, but their names had already lost some of their luster with "Say It Isn't So," which tanked at the box office. Never mind that they only produced it and didn't direct it, but the ads screamed "this is the next Farrelly Bros. movie!" Trying to make Osmosis Jones into a Farrely Bros. movie in the ads will only serve to tarnish their names further.

[WBArchivist]

Vince - you're a mod... can you add an extra "r" to "Farrelly"?

My mistake...:D

[Anthonynotes]

My guesses:

The marketing: I was less than excited from what I saw of the ads (that same "Why'd ya have to hit so *hard*?!" ad over and over...)...along with:

The film itself: the comedic life and times of cellular lifeforms might not've been all that interesting to a film audience, I suppose. Even with the various grossout gags thrown in (which was the biggest factor in why I didn't want to go see it). And being PG rated, I'm sure older viewers probably saw it as a kids flick (yet with the cellular lifeform focus, younger kids, who'd have no idea what a "white blood cell" is, probably didn't want to see it either...) Then, finally, there's:

The time it was released: It went up against "American Pie 2", a guaranteed box-office success that weekend (and continuing to be so apparently, along with the surprisingly-still-strong Rush Hour 2, both of these films claiming this weekend's top 2 spots again). Thus, the teenaged/"grossout humor" crowd might've favored said R-rated grossout gags over the PG-rated grossout gags. Plus, the other films out as well might've eaten away at its success.

Those are my guesses...maybe it'll fare a bit better on video (er, or not, thinking back to "Supernova" and the like)...

-B.

[Calhoun07]

I'd have to go with marketing on this one too. I saw all kinds of ads for their previous movies, but this one I don't think I saw one commercial for it.

I also think it's time for the Farrleys to just take a bit of a sabbatical. Me, Myself, and Irene had just as many haters as lovers of that movie (tho I count myself as a lover of that movie) but their name being attatched to that God awful Say It Ain't So hurt them bad. That movie was just atrocious. I think Freddie Got Fingered was better than that pile of plop.

[Jowy Blight]

As everybody said, the marketing. They hardly ever showed the ads or anything, plus the previews at the movies didn't look that good at all.

They also kinda released it at a bad time, It went up againest popular movies. Oh well, it will most likely do better on video then in the theater.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by Jowy Blight
As everybody said, the marketing. They hardly ever showed the ads or anything, plus the previews at the movies didn't look that good at all.

They also kinda released it at a bad time, It went up againest popular movies. Oh well, it will most likely do better on video then in the theater. Ok a)We should get use to the fact that WB always fumbles when it comes to marketting its animated features

b)Osmosis Jones Marketting budget is actully fair decent when you comapare it to WBs other Animated features

c)The Osmosis Jones marketting did very little to help the film I think they should kick the eveyone involved in its marketting in the ass as they just wasted money

d)As other people said bad timing

Basicly all comes down to WB not having a clue how to release a animated feature.

[Nftnat]

Well, I don't know what the deal is with marketing; all I know is I saw commercial after commercial for it every day for weeks, & i'm still seeing them. My vote would go to the live action sequences. And we must also blame the current American mindset that all animation must necessarily be for kids & only for kids. Ditto for all PG stuff (& G stuff, I would add). The mindset seems to be that to appeal to adults it has to be full of the S, the P, & / or the V. Didn't used to be that way; look @ some old TV westerns or the original Star Trek. Well, that's my opinion.

[Jowy Blight]

American mindset that all animation must necessarily be for kids & only for kids.

Yeah, I remember one time while siting in a theater watching Final Fantasy, a chacacter on the screen said "sh*t". The woman behind me with some little kids just gasped and the kids kep saying the word over and over again. So she took the kids and left the theater. The movie had a PG-13 rateing and she brought kids who looked to be 8-9 years old.

I guess she thought it would be a disney movie or something.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by Jowy Blight


Yeah, I remember one time while siting in a theater watching Final Fantasy, a chacacter on the screen said "sh*t". The woman behind me with some little kids just gasped and the kids kep saying the word over and over again. So she took the kids and left the theater. The movie had a PG-13 rateing and she brought kids who looked to be 8-9 years old.

I guess she thought it would be a disney movie or something. Uhhh I think the person that was selling her the tickets should have warned her.

[Calhoun07]

I don't think it's the cashier's responsibility to make suggestions or issue warnings about the content of the movies. That parent should have tried to become a little more educated about the movie, and at the very least read the small print under the PG-13 rating and see why it got rated that way. People just need to take responsibility for their own actions, and stop blaming the stores and movie theaters and the cashiers who wait on them when they wind up buying something they don't like. I work part time in a video store and I have to say that it drives me (and the other employees) NUTS when people bring back movies and complain that they feel they should get something for free because they didn't like it. And our response? TOUGH, especially the people who keep these movies like five days THEN bring them back. I actually had a woman stand there and complain about Fantasia because it was just music and animation, and she didn't know it was going to be like that and her son didn't like it that much. She wanted something for free, but she got nothing. People like that need to take a moment and read the back of the cover boxes instead of thinking they know what the movie will be like. And to not know what Fantasia was? Hell, she should have paid ME for listening to her ignorant complaint!

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by calhoun07
I don't think it's the cashier's responsibility to make suggestions or issue warnings about the content of the movies.... I agree parents should do more research but how hard is it to say (Movie name) Rating or if they are with a child "This movie might not be sutible for young viewers" they don't really have to do anything else.

[Calhoun07]

It's just not their responsibility, that's all, and I don't think it should be. And there are parents who don't think their kids are going to turn out that bad if they hear some swearing in a PG-13 movie. If that mother knew what I watched as a kid, her head would spin. And I turned out quite responsible and a contributing memeber of society.

Also, there may be parents out there who might feel offended if the cashier was to do that.

The only thing I ever gave a forewarning about was on Conker's Bad Fur Day, the N64 game that is so offensive and horrendous, it's the only video game I have seen explicity labled NOT for rental to those under 17. And for those products, for the movies that are YRV (youth restricted viewing, which are NOT to be rented to 17 or under) we are required to issue warnings. But that's a far cry from a PG 13 movie. And the ratings are on the marquee. If parents really want to know, they should just ask.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by calhoun07
It's just not their responsibility, that's all, and I don't think it should be. And there are parents who don't think their kids are going to turn out that bad if they hear some swearing in a PG-13 movie. If that mother knew what I watched as a kid, her head would spin. And I turned out quite responsible and a contributing memeber of society. But it is no big thing all they have to do is read the title and rating to the customer kinda like a double check incase a)they picked up the wrong one or b)they didn't look at the rating


Also, there may be parents out there who might feel offended if the cashier was to do that.
The Casinos in Ontario by law they have to ask everyone for ID to make sure they are over 21 even those that look older the Slappy Squirrel so this would be kinda like the same thing

[Calhoun07]

I still say that in a PG 13 movie, cashiers at theaters should not have to worry about this. Heck, these kids are being accompanied by an adult. If you get technical, a PG rating means parental guidance suggested, but most parents let their kids see those movies alone, and you might get a mother like that one who gets upset over the content of a PG movie. So should they issue warnings on PG movies, too? "Just to let you know, Road to El Dorado has two swear words in it." I think that's just too much, and I think that if movie theaters required their chashiers to remind adults that PG 13 means their 7 year old might be too young for the movie and to keep up on what's objectionable in those movies, then that would be too much. Maybe I could see it for an R rated movie, but I don't think they should as long as the kids are accompanied by an adult. They would and should check ID if the kids were trying to get into these movies by themselves.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by calhoun07
I still say that in a PG 13 movie, cashiers at theaters should not have to worry about this. Heck, these kids are being accompanied by an adult. If you get technical, a PG rating means parental guidance suggested, but most parents let their kids see those movies alone, and you might get a mother like that one who gets upset over the content of a PG movie. So should they issue warnings on PG movies, too? "Just to let you know, Road to El Dorado has two swear words in it." I think that's just too much, and I think that if movie theaters required their chashiers to remind adults that PG 13 means their 7 year old might be too young for the movie and to keep up on what's objectionable in those movies, then that would be too much.Well they don't have to keep up with what's objectionable in the movie. Maybe the computer can tell the customer when the ticket is being printed up by having a slightly larger LCD screen facing them

[Sharklady]

There are a number of newspapers, notably the New York Times, which run 'Family Viewing Guides' as a regular feature. These guides describe current movies, explaining why they have the ratings they do, and suggesting which age groups they'd be appropriate for. Ex:

"Sensitive grade-schoolers might be frightened by the lost-in-the-forest scenes. Kids over twelve should be fine."

"Children under eight will probably enjoy this one; older kids may get bored."

"Definitely not for anybody under twelve. Even younger teens should be accompanied by a parent, if they're at all disturbed by graphic violence."

And so forth.
If I had movie-going kids, I'd certainly make use of such a resource.

[Anthonynotes]

On top of all this, I think some of what I said re: TV ratings below might apply to movies as well, namely that even if it has a rating,it's still somewhat subjective, and the same rating might apply to two different things of differing material/merits: "Almost Famous" is much more benign a film than "American Pie"/"Scary Movie", yet all three films got an "R" rating. This despite "Almost Famous" not having too much material that'd seem to merit such a rating, or being much different than a bunch of PG-13 films these days (and definitely was sans "Pie"/"Scary"'s crude gags). A point that Roger Ebert's made in his review of "Famous" (though he's been pretty heavily criticizing the ratings system of late for stuff like this)....

All in all, parents should know what their kids are watching, and what the film contains/what to expect, and most major video store chain boxes (IIRC) list such stuff on the back of most of their rental boxes in a description...plus, such major stores often have a family-friendly-viewing section, to boot...

-B.