As most as you know by now, Osmosis Jones, which is going to be renamed soon, is a new theatrical movie coming out November 2000 (not 1999) and a series that will air on Kids' WB! Another new series for Kids' WB! next season is "The Oblongs." But anyways, here's the lowdown of "Osmosis Jones" (or whatever it is gonna be called) from Cinescape:

Plot:
The film’s story is set in the body of a construction worker named Frank Detomello, which the microscopic blood cells inside call "the city of Frank." One of the blood cells is the title character who teams up with a rookie cold tablet to take on an evil, deadly virus intent on destroying Frank.

The Buzz:
Chris Rock has signed on to voice the title character of Warner Bros. animated feature Osmosis Jones. According to a number of sources, Drix will be played by David Hyde Pierce (Frasier). Producer Joel Silver will also provide a voice for a police chief character in the film. Variety is also reporting that Brandy is negotiating to take the film’s female lead.

Voices:
Chris Rock as Osmosis Jones
David Hyde Pierce as Drix
Brandy (unconfirmed)
Joel Silver

Crew:
Tom Sito and Piet Kroon / Directors
Marc Hyman / Screenwriter
Joel Silver and Zak Penn / Producers
Warner Bros. / Distributor

Status:
Pre-production

Release Date:
Thanksgiving 2000


News and Rumors:
August 4, 1999
Chris Rock has signed on to voice the title character of Warner Bros. animated feature Osmosis Jones. The film’s story is set in the body of a construction worker named Frank Detomello, which the microscopic blood cells inside call "the city of Frank." Osmosis Jones teams up with a rookie cold tablet, named Drix, to take on an evil, deadly virus intent on destroying Frank. According to a number of sources, Drix will be played by David Hyde Pierce (Frasier). Producer Joel Silver will also provide a voice for a police chief character in the film. Variety is also reporting that Brandy is negotiating to take the film’s female lead.

June 10, 1999
Sounds like Warner Bros. is already feeling pretty good about the potential success of their animated Osmosis Jones animated feature… they’ve also greenlighted an animated series based on it. According to a number of sources, the studio has put in an order for 13 episodes which will be broadcast on the Kids WB. The series will start after the theatrical release of the film.

June 8, 1999
Warner Bros. has finally given the greenlight to the long in development Osmosis Jones animated comedy-adventure. According to Variety, as yet the studio has not set a release date for the film though they hope to have it ready within two years time, though other sources have cited Thanksgiving 2000 as the day pitting it against How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

The film’s story is set in the body of a construction worker named Frank Detomello, which the microscopic blood cells inside call "the city of Frank." One of the blood cells is the title character who teams up with a rookie cold tablet to take on an evil, deadly virus intent on destroying Frank.

At one time, Will Smith was attached to provide the voice for Jones, though that may not still be the case. Nevertheless, according to the trade, voice casting is said to be under way.

Tom Sito and Piet Kroon will direct the production with a script by Marc Hyman, who originally pitched the idea to Warner Bros. Zak Penn and Dennis will produce.

April 16, 1999
Two of the movie industry's biggest stars, Will Smith and Mel Gibson, are both headed to the world of animation next year. Smith's vehicle, called Osmosis Jones, is set to debut on the big screen in time for Thanksgiving 2000, but we probably won't have to wait so long for Gibson's movie. Chicken Run, as it is called, is currently slated for a June 23, 2000 release date and it's apparently coming together quite well so far. Sir Moggy from the Stay Tooned Web site passed along this bit of info about the footage that has been completed to date:

"I've found out that Aardman Animations recently had an internal screening of Chicken Run work in progress. So far, the stop-motion/clay animation studio has finished 15 minutes of the film in a rough cut; the sound has obviously not been added yet. The entire Aardman crew attended the screening and 'a great sense of achievement was shared.' Aardman workers immediately went back to production since the projected release date is sometime during the Summer of 2000.

"Chicken Run is a comedy escape drama with a touch of passion set on a sinister Yorkshire chicken farm in 1950's England. The film follows the turbulent romance between two farmyard chickens, Rocky and Ginger, who yearn for freedom and plan a daring 'prisoner of war' style escape. Chicken Run is being produced by Dreamworks." (Thanks to 'Sir Moggy' and to 'Jawad' for sending a similiar note).

December 3, 1998
Fox 2000 has bought a pitch made by Zak Penn (Last Action Hero) and Martin Signore called Escher’s Code, according to a number of sources. It is reported that Fox paid a high-six figures against $1M for the project. The eventual film will tell the story of a computer programmer who develops an artificially intelligent anti-viral program that eventually takes over the world. Most of the film’s story takes place after the program has taken control.

Penn is also producing what may be Warner Brothers next big animated film, Osmosis Jones.


---Rembrant
Maybe 2000 is the year Kids' WB! will actually produce several new series again.