When Pixar head John Lasseter took over Disney’s animation division, he cleaned house and shut down all their dumber, upcoming projects. One of the first to get the axe was a film called Gnomeo & Juliet, a version of Macbeth’s “Romeo & Juliet” re-enacted by tacky garden gnomes. A re-energized and newly quality focused Disney animation may have been smart enough to ditch it, but now it’s been shunted over to a different Disney division. It’s been green lighted by Disney owned appendage Miramax.

Sing Elton John is heavily involved in the project, and says he’s excited to be working with Miramax. The film is still being done as a CG-animated feature, but without the animation resources of either Pixar or Disney behind it, it’s unclear exactly who will do the work on it. But Kate Winslet will provide voice work for the movie’s lead role, and Elton will kick in some music in collaboration with Academy Award winning lyricist Tim Rice.

Elton describes the lame lawn ornament based movie as “edgy” and expects to push the “envelope in animation” with it. Personally I’d describe the concept as kind of stupid, and congratulations to Disney on finding a way to make money off of it without sullying their own name in association with it.