Johnny Depp is set to voice the lead role in the animated movie “Sherlock Gnomes,” which is a sequel to the 2011 hit “Gnomeo and Juliet,” it was announced Friday.
James McAvoy and Emily Blunt will return for the sequel, which hails from Paramount Animation and MGM. The original movie grossed nearly $200 million worldwide.
Produced by Elton John‘s Rocket Pictures, the film takes place after a string of garden gnome disappearances in London, as Gnomeo and Juliet look to legendary detective Sherlock Gnomes to solve the case.
John Stevenson (“Kung Fu Panda”) will direct ‘Sherlock Gnomes,” which Paramount Animation and MGM will release on Jan. 12, 2018 over MLK weekend. Ben Zazove (“Captain Planet”) wrote the script.
The producing team Elton John, David Furnish, Steve Hamilton-Shaw and Carolyn Soper, who served as a production executive on Disney’s “Tangled,” “Bolt” and “The Princess and the Frog.”
Depp previously voiced the lead in Paramount’s Oscar-winning animated film “Rango,” as well as Tim Burton‘s “The Corpse Bride.” He’s represented by UTA.