Over 70 different actors have portrayed Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes character over the years, so while reinventing Sherlock is not a new game, it’s recently become an extremely popular one, with both the BBC’s revival of the series as well as the upcoming CBS show Elementary. Now Disney is cashing in on the revival of Sherlock mania as well by tying in the famous detective with their new 3D animated movie Sherlock Gnomes, which Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson is now set to direct.

As we reported earlier this year, the film is a sequel to last year’s Gnomeo & Juliet, and that movie’s production company (Elton John’s Rocket Pictures) as well as its co-writers (Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil) will all be back for the follow-up film. Elton John is also writing music for the production as well as co-producing it.  For the plot details and more, hit the jump.

Kung Fu Panda co-director John Stevenson has signed a multi-picture deal with John Williams’ Vanguard Films.  Stevenson’s first project with Vanguard will be helming the live action/CGI hybrid film Alien Rock Band.  Here’s how the press release describes the movie:

Plot revolves around a garage band from Earth which journeys across the Universe to qualify for a shot at superstardom in an Intergalactic Battle of the Bands. It won’t be easy – the band will have to out-shred four-armed alien guitarists, face-down tentacled, punker octo-drummers, and fight snarling alien monsters – with music as its only weapon.

Surprisingly, there’s no mention of alien cocaine or alien groupies.  Hit the jump to learn about the other projects Stevenson and Vanguard will be collaborating on.

You would think that with all that Greyskull Power, the “Masters of the Universe” adaptation could get off the ground but its been struggling since 2007 where Mattel was trying to develop it with Joel Silver at Warner Bros.  Unfortunately (if you’re a He-Man fan), Silver and Warner Bros. couldn’t come to an agreement on the creative direction of the film and I find that surprising because I didn’t think a “Masters of the Universe” movie could have a creative direction.  The project had gained some momentum with Justin Marks (“The Legend of Chun-Li) writing a screenplay for director John Stevenson (“Kung Fu Panda”).  Now that the project is at Sony, co-producers Escape Artists will have  Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch start over from scratch.

For those that don’t know, “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” is based on a cartoon and toy-line about a prince who becomes a warrior battling the evil Skeletor for control of his magical homeland.  I have no idea why they’re struggling to make this into a movie.

By the power of Greskull, it looks like Mattel is looking to shop the film rights to the story of Prince Adam and his continual battle to protect Castle Greyskull from the evil forces of Skeletor. The Joel Silver produced reboot of the toy-based franchise has been set up at Warner since 2007. Well now it seems the companies have mutually agreed to let Warner’s rights lapse, after failing to find a common ground on the film’s direction. For those that have lives or good taste in movies and don’t know, the He-Man property has been adapted for live action once before by Cannon films in the 1987 “Masters of the Universe”. The prospect of a new film has been on the table for quite a while now, but this development seems like it might be a bigger obstacle than both Beastman and Triclopse comin’ at ya. For more, raise your magic sword and hit the jump.