One of the more pleasant surprises last year was quite how much fun the Elton John-powered Gnomeo & Juliet turned out to be, especially considering the early trailers were not encouraging. Cinemagoers responded to the tune of $194 million worldwide, and now Rocket Pictures is working on a sequel, with the slightly overwrought pun title Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes.

Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, who were responsible for the first movie’s script, are back on board to write the new one, with Sir Elton composing new songs.

The sequel’s story sees gnomes starting to disappear from England’s suburban gardens. Which means that Gnomeo and the rest will have to call on Sherlock Gnomes, who has the reputation as the “greatest ornamental detective.” Sadly, he’s not exactly as competent as the human Sherlock and soon the threat to the garden dwellers is even greater.

“Action detective stories need some gnomes to liven them up, I’m sure Arthur Conan Doyle would agree,” jokes producer Steve Hamilton Shaw in a press release picked up by Deadline. “It will be a fun, broad family film building on the popular foundation of the first. We believe the wide appeal of our world and characters combined with strong musical elements create a terrific franchise opportunity.”

While the cast isn't mentioned, we'd guess James McAvoy, Emily Blunt and their fellow performers will be back. What it will need, however, is a new director, as Kelly Asbury isn’t coming back except to supervise the production...