Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? First you become Tromeo, and now -- Gnomeo. Well, people have been trying to rename you to Gnomeo for a while now. Heck, last time Cinematical wrote about the upcoming CGI feature Gnomeo and Juliet, it was 2006 and Kate Winslet and professional voice actor Greg Ellis were attached to voice the film. Almost two years later, the garden gnome romance is still hiking its way to the big screen, and The Hollywood Reporter posts that James McAvoy and Emily Blunt are in negotiations to voice the leads.

While I'm bummed to see another voice actor lose his work, there are some quirks to look forward to with this feature -- namely Elton John classics. At first, a whole new set of romantic songs were going to be penned by Tim Rice and John, but that didn't work out so we get the good ol' classics. Will Gnomeo fall off Juliet's balcony and sing: "I'm Still Standing"? Will the two dance, canoodle, and sing: "Tiny Dancer"? Will "Candle in the Wind" be adapted once again for the tragic finale? Oh, the possibilities.

Now, it's also said to be a "loose and edgy" adaptation, so perhaps these gnomes will get their happy ending -- although I'd hope it wouldn't stray too far from the original. Whatever the case, it'll be a long wait. The project is currently in the storyboard stage, with plans to wrap up production by 2010.

The lengths at which people stretch the words of Shakespeare never cease to amaze me. Unlike other icons of literature, The Bard's writing has become a poo-poo platter starting point for creativity. I've seen it all – from Taming of the Shrew set in the Wild West to Macbeth at a fast food stand. Some of them have worked, and others have not. Beyond all of these, the Montague and Capulets seem to be everyone's favourite Shakespeare team. But lately, the famous warring households are being stretched to new levels.

Adaptation the first: Last year, Martha Fischer reported that things weren't over for Gnomeo and Juliet, an animated adaptation dealing with garden gnomes. There doesn't seem to be much news on the project, but it seems it still has two lead voices, Kate Winslet as Juliet, and prolific voice actor Greg Ellis.

Adaptation the second: Romeo and Juliet in werewolf love. Last year we shared that Agnes Bruckner and Olivier Martinez had joined Blood and Chocolate, a werewolf love story. Now, according to JoBlo and Fangoria, this story is a re-jig of the star-crossed lovers, although in this case, they're moon-crossed. Juliet, aka Vivian, is part of a long line of werewolves, and she inconveniently falls for a human. It's not enough to be a part of competing families. These days, you can't both be human. Fangoria is hosting some images from the film, which is looking a little cheesy with its glowing beasts.

So, we've got werewolves and garden gnomes now acting out Shakespeare's famous characters. What would he say if he were here today?

A couple of week ago, we reported that, as part of the Pixar/Disney marriage, things were being shaken up at the Disney corral (meaning quality was being reintroduced). As part of the shakeup, Pixar execs were reviewing Disney's upcoming animated projects, and Gnomeo and Juliet, their planned retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story (except with garden gnomes, and all the music Elton John has ever written), didn't make the cut. We, foolishly, assumed it was dead. We should have known better.

In Hollywood, in appears, old scripts never die -- instead, they just show up at another studio, with some new names attached. Such is the case with Gnomeo and Juliet: The project has been transfered over to Miramax. As you might expect, Sir Elton is just thrilled to bits at the development -- his project, you see, is "edgy" (Dude, it's an animated romance. Have you not seen anything Disney has made over the past 50 years?), and "Miramax is the perfect home to push the envelope in animation." He's clearly just making things up here, but if Elton's happy, we're happy. He's also undoubtedly pleased that, despite all the shuffling around with the movie, Kate Winslet is reportedly still on board to voice Juliet. Hooray for that.

Man alive - John Lasseter and Ed Catmull are seriously laying down the law at Disney. Part of the new arrangement created by the Disney-Pixar marriage is that Pixar execs are reviewing some of the projects that Disney has in or headed towards production; one of those projects is Gnomeo and Juliet, which was tentatively scheduled to be in theaters in 2008. The film was supposed to be a CGI retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story, only with garden gnomes and Elton John music (John had agreed to open up his entire back catalog to the studio). Unfortunately for the people who sell soundtracks, however, Gnomeo is no more. Though no official reason was given for the project being pulled, an insider (a real, reliable insider) reports that, when a Pixar exec asked a meeting of Disney officials "Why are we making this?", their answer was a long silence. In response, the exec said "Well, we're not." Gone.

In addition, Lasseter and co reportedly want a major, major overhaul - including character changes - of the previously-discussed Meet the Robinsons. Wow. Can this really be? Quality standards? At Disney?