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.
As for Stevenson's participation, Rocket CEO and producer Steve Hamilton Shaw said,
"John has the perfect sensibility for this movie, together with the vision to build on the first film to create a distinctive, fresh and action-packed adventure."
Sherlock Gnomes will focus on the characters from the first film, who will now enlist the help of Sherlock (in gnome form, naturally) to help them solve the mysterious disappearances of other gnomes from suburban gardens of England. Presumably then they are neither roaming nor taking extended travels in the place of their owners, but beyond that we'll have to leave it up to Sherlock.
Production on Sherlock Gnomes should start early next year.