Miramax may be dead but their animated film Gnomeo and Juliet is apparently still a going concern.
Despite the fact that Disney shut down Miramax – the Mouse House's adult-oriented 'independent' film subsidiary – on January 28th, Elton John's Rocket Pictures imprint will still produce the movie and have even scheduled a release date, according to Coming Soon.
It's a tale of forbidden love between a pair of garden gnomes from rival factions.
Gnomeo and Juliet: Disney's Romeo and Juliet Fable Set Amongst Garden Gnomes
According to the movie's producers, the film is a "loose and edgy adaptation of Shakespeare's play, James McAvoy (Wanted) and Blunt (Wolfman) would play lovers from rival gardens. The film will feature several Elton John classics and possibly a few new tracks."
Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2) is in the director's chair, and is working from an original script by Rob Sprackling and John R. Smith (Tortoise vs. Hare). Kevin Cecil (Slacker Cats), Andy Riley (Slacker Cats) and Mark Burton (Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit) are also credited with revisions to the screenplay. With so many cooks sticking their fingers in the scriptwriting soup, it's doubtful that Gnomeo and Juliet's ending will bear any resemblance to Shakespeare's tragedy, or even a looser adaptation like Gonzo's Basilisk.
Gnomeo and Juliet's Disney Production History
Rocket Pictures had originally pitched this "loose and edgy" adaptation for Walt Disney Feature Animation sometime in early 2000. However, when Pixar co-founders John Lasseter and Ed Catmull took over the leadership role at Disney Animation in May of 2006, they took one look at the script and promptly consigned it to the circular filing system.
At that point, the recently-installed Miramax president Daniel Battsek – who had followed the project while at Buena Vista International – persuaded Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook to revive it at his division, which had been founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein before getting bought by the Mouse House in 1993.
Unfortunately for Miramax and Battsek, the studio's recent output was less-than-stellar: with occasional hits like No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood overshadowed by bombs like Everybody's Fine, Blindness and Smart People.
On October 3, 2009, Disney announced that they were slashing Miramax's film schedule to 3 films per year and that the studio's operations were being folded into Disney's Burbank offices. Disney also announced that Battsek was resigning as Miramax president, effective as of January of 2010. He then shifted companies to become President of National Geographic Films, starting in March of 2010.
Gnomeo and Juliet is scheduled for a February 11, 2011 release date.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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