“Sherlock Gnomes”, opening next weekend, is the follow-up to 2011’s “Gnomeo & Juliet”. Many of the characters from the original and their real-life counterparts are back: James McAvoy’s Gnomeo, Emily Blunt’s Juliet, as well as characters voiced by Michael Caine, Maggie Smith and Stephen Merchant.
But the new, main focus this time around is on the title character, Sherlock Gnomes (voiced by Johnny Depp). To have his name in the title, and not Gnomeo & Juliet, was certainly a gutsy move. Audiences should be familiar with Gnomeo & Juliet, but they haven’t been on screen in 7 long years.
So, the big question is, how exactly should we classify this film? Is it a sequel, a follow-up, a spinoff, or a combination of all three? The first film was a love story, while this second chapter is clearly a detective/mystery comedy with plenty of takes on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic Sherlock Holmes stories.
Similar to “Cars 2”, the “Gnomeo” franchise has now done a 180-degree switch-up. “Cars” had a sports movie/underdog story (though so much more), and then its sequel completely shifted focus to a spy caper involving the first film’s breakout, supporting star (Mater). And then with “Cars 3”, we went right back to the sports movie underdog story.
2015’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” is arguably another animated follow-up that drastically shifted the course of the series, with SB and pals transforming into CGI superheroes.
Aardman is currently working on “Shaun the Sheep Movie 2”. The 2015 original, based on the TV series, was a road trip/rescue comedy with a heart of gold. This second installment is reportedly a pure sci-fi adventure.
Some recent legitimate animated movie spinoffs were distinct prequels that centered on major characters from the core series, like “Puss in Boots” (“Shrek” franchise) and “Minions” (“Despicable Me” series).
Other spinoffs were follow-ups on the timeline, set in the universe of the core franchise. “Planes” and sequel “Planes: Fire & Rescue” were based in the “World of ‘Cars'”. “The LEGO Batman Movie” was a direct spinoff of “The LEGO Movie” (which prominently featured LEGO Batman), and “The LEGO Ninjago Movie” is essentially another entry in the LEGO Cinematic Universe.
It’ll be interesting to see how “Sherlock Gnomes” does at the box office for a number of reasons. There hasn’t been an animated movie out since “Early Man” in February (and that’s only grossed $8 million). But again, it’s been 7 years since “Gnomeo”, a film distributed by Disney. “Sherlock” is coming from Paramount, whose goal might be to target a new generation of kids who maybe didn’t even see the first film, with a new main character and completely new storyline.