Sherlock Gnomes

Sherlock Gnomes is a 2018 3D computer-animated comedy film directed by John Stevenson. A sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), the film stars the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, and Johnny Depp. It was produced by Paramount Animation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Rocket Pictures, with the animation service provided by Mikros Image. It is the first film from Paramount Animation to be entirely animated, and the first animated film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 2008's Igor. The film was released in the United States on March 23, 2018, by Paramount Pictures, unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Touchstone Pictures. It has grossed $78 million worldwide.

Plot
Sherlock Gnomes and his assistant, Gnome Watson, storm into a museum, where their nemesis, a pie mascot named Moriarty, is holding gnomes hostage, planning to smash them. After a brief battle, Moriarty is defeated and seemingly crushed by a dinosaur skeleton.

Meanwhile, Gnomeo and Juliet, as well as the other gnomes, are moving to London. While there, Gnomeo and Juliet are declared the new leaders of the garden. Gnomeo leaves to find a flower for the garden, but is caught. He and Juliet have a brief argument, but then find out that all the other gnomes have gone missing. Sherlock and Watson show up at the scene to investigate, and after Gnomeo and Juliet help them escape from a sewer, they all team up.

Sherlock inspects a clue given to them by Moriarty, who he believes survived their last encounter. After literally searching his mind, he concludes that the clue is leading them to Chinatown. After an encounter with some Maneki-nekos, they find the next clue. The group is split on where the clue is leading, so they split up. Later, Watson is seemingly killed by a stone Gargoyle, saddening the group. Eventually, Sherlock figures out that the next clue is at the park. He and Juliet disguise themselves as a squirrel to get the clue from a dog and barely succeed. Meanwhile, Gnomeo discovers where the gnomes are being kept.

The next clue leads Sherlock and Juliet to a doll shop, where they meet his former girlfriend, Irene. Resentful towards Sherlock, she kicks them out, but Juliet is allowed back in. Juliet then convinces her to give them the clue, which finally leads them to Moriarty. However, they discover that Watson was the true mastermind. Watson's Gargoyles then betray him and dispose of Sherlock, Watson, and Juliet.

Sherlock discovers exactly where the gnomes are being held, at the Tower Bridge, and the group later finds out that Moriarty really was behind everything and plans on smashing the gnomes with the bridge when it's raised. He then reveals that, after witnessing Sherlock's mistreatment of Watson, had the Gargoyles, who worked for him the entire time, pretend to work for Watson.

During a brief chase, Gnomeo defeats the Gargoyles with a drone, Watson goes to save the trapped gnomes, and Moriarty injures Sherlock's leg. To save everyone, Sherlock tackles Moriarty over the edge of the bridge where Watson narrowly saves him. Moriarty is left floating in the river where he vows revenge. Watson and Sherlock reconcile, as does Gnomeo and Juliet, and the gnomes are rescued.

The garden gnomes hold a ceremony for Gnomeo and Juliet, with Irene in attendance, and Sherlock and Watson leave onto another adventure.

Voice cast

 * James McAvoy as Gnomeo, Lady Bluebury's son, Juliet's husband, Benny's best friend and a blue gnome counterpart to Romeo Montague.
 * Emily Blunt as Juliet, Lord Redbrick's daughter, Gnomeo's wife, Nanette's best friend and a red gnome counterpart to Juliet Capulet.
 * Johnny Depp as Sherlock Gnomes, Gnome Watson's friend and assistant, Irene's ex-boyfriend, Moriarty's arch-nemesis and a gnome counterpart to Sherlock Holmes.
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor as Gnome Watson, Sherlock Gnomes' friend and assistant and a gnome counterpart to Dr. John Watson.
 * Mary J. Blige as Irene, Sherlock's ex-girlfriend, and a plastic doll counterpart to Irene Adler.
 * Jamie Demetriou as Moriarty, Sherlock's arch-nemesis and a pie mascot counterpart to Professor Moriarty.
 * Michael Caine as Lord Redbrick, the leader of the red gnomes and Juliet's overprotective widowed father and gnome counterpart to Lord Capulet.
 * Maggie Smith as Lady Bluebury, the leader of the blue gnomes and Gnomeo's widowed mother; gnome counterpart to Lady Montague.
 * Ashley Jensen as Nanette, a Scottish-accented plastic garden frog, Juliet's best friend and Paris' girlfriend in first film now is the new girlfriend of Benny and garden frog counterpart to Nurse.
 * Matt Lucas as Benny, Gnomeo's impulsive and tall-hatted best friend, Call Me Doll's boyfriend in first film who is the new boyfriend of Nanette; gnome counterpart to Benvolio.
 * Stephen Merchant as Paris, a nerdy red gnome who was arranged to marry Juliet and Nanette's boyfriend in first film and gnome counterpart to Count Paris.
 * Julie Walters as Ms. Montague, the elderly owner of the garden.
 * Richard Wilson as Mr. Capulet, the elderly owner of the garden.
 * Julio Bonet as Mankini Gnome, a red gnome in a mankini.
 * Kelly Asbury as Red Goon Gnomes; counterparts to Gregory, Sampson, Anthony, and Potpan.
 * Ozzy Osbourne as Fawn, a garden deer.
 * Dan Starkey as Teddy Gregson, a counterpart to Tobias Gregson.
 * Dexter Fletcher as Reggie, a gargoyle.
 * James Hong as Salt Shaker
 * John Stevenson as Big Boy Gorilla
 * Stephen Wright as Bridge Operator

Development
In March 2012, it was reported that the film was in development at Rocket Pictures. Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg, Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, four of the nine writers on the first film, were to write the script for the film. Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish produced the film, and Elton John, an executive producer, was again composing new songs for the film. The film would feature Sherlock Gnomes, "the greatest ornamental detective" hired by the characters from the first film, who would try to solve the mystery of disappearing gnomes.

In September 2012, it was reported that John Stevenson, one of the directors of Kung Fu Panda, had been set to direct the film. Kelly Asbury, the director of the first film, was unable to direct the sequel due to being busy on Smurfs: The Lost Village for Sony Pictures Animation. However, he was involved in the sequel as the creative consultant.

Casting
In November 2015, it was announced that Johnny Depp would voice Sherlock Gnomes and that the film would be released on January 12, 2018. McAvoy and Blunt reprised their roles as Gnomeo and Juliet, respectively.

Animation
Unlike the first film, which was animated by Arc Productions (now Jam Filled Toronto), Sherlock Gnomes was animated by Mikros Image in London and Paris. Like the first film, the movie’s animation was created using Maya. 60 percent of the animation crew was in London, and the rest were in Paris. During peak production, there were between 80 and 100 animators working on the project. Animation director Eric Leighton took inspiration from George Pal’s Puppetoons for the animation of the gnomes in the film. Additional animation was produced by Reel FX Creative Studios in Dallas, Texas.

Music
Chris Bacon was confirmed to return to score the sequel like in the first film while James Newton Howard did not return to co-compose the score since he was too busy working on the music for an unnamed sequel of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. However, James did return only to be involved as a music consultant. The soundtrack album was released by Virgin EMI Records.

Release
The film was originally scheduled to be released in the United States on January 12, 2018. In May 2017, the film was pushed back two months to March 23, 2018. In the UK, it was released on May 11, 2018.

Marketing
On November 3, 2017, seven teaser posters were released. The same day, the title was shortened from Gnomeo and Juliet 2: Sherlock Gnomes to Sherlock Gnomes. On November 7, the first trailer was revealed. The trailer was shown before screenings of Daddy's Home 2.

The film had also released posters parodying previous films from 2017, such as Darkest Hour, The Disaster Artist, The Greatest Showman, The Post, I, Tonya, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, All the Money in the World, Wonder Woman, and The Shape of Water.

Home media
Sherlock Gnomes will be released on Digital HD on June 5, 2018, and on Blu-ray and DVD on June 12, 2018.

Box office
As of May 29, 2018, Sherlock Gnomes has grossed $42.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $35.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $78 million, against a production budget of $59 million.

In the United States and Canada, Sherlock Gnomes was released alongside Pacific Rim Uprising, Midnight Sun, Unsane and Paul, Apostle of Christ, and was projected to gross $13–18 million from 3,600 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to $10.6 million, underperforming but still finishing 4th at the box office.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 55 reviews, and an average rating of 4.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Sherlock Gnomes is sadly, utterly stumped by the mystery of the reason of its own existence." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.