Elton John Not Happy With Disney

Uh-oh. There's some unhappy feelings due to "Gnomeo and Juliet" success, and we're hearing now a bit of what went on behind the scenes in the production of this movie. It seems that Elton John, who has a major role in getting the movie made along with his partner David Furnish, is feeling slighted that no one from Disney has congratulated them on the success of this movie. It appears that, at least according to him, Disney didn't throw in its full support in promoting the movie, and that John Lasseter didn't want it made in the first place.

“Gnomeo and Juliet took us eleven years to make. We defied all the odds and all of the people at Disney who said, “this wouldn’t be a hit,” John said on air with one of his legendary outbursts. “And it’s the biggest hit, but it could have been a bigger hit if Disney got behind it more,” he added.
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Miramax financed the picture, which was animated at the Starz Animation studio in Toronto. John said Disney is red-faced over Gnomeo overcoming the odds to succeed at the multiplex. “They’re so ashamed, and they should be ashamed of themselves –they’re so afraid to congratulate us because John Lasseter of Pixar did not want us to make this movie that we still haven’t had a message of congratulations or well done,” he added.

Now, to be fair, I don't think this is any bigger hit than "Meet The Robinsons" or "The Princess and the Frog". It might cross over the $100 million mark in the North American box office, but it isn't the level of success of a Pixar movie. Could it have been bigger if Disney went all out behind it (assuming that Disney didn't)? I don't know. The movie isn't on par with a Pixar movie. The emotional element isn't all that deep. It was good for a few good laughs, and it certainly was better than I expected, but only because I had a more enjoyable time than I was expecting. So I have serious doubts that it could have been a significantly bigger hit had Disney fired up all of its promotional/advertising guns.

Hum.. now that we know that these things were happening, I guess we won't be seeing Disney-themed gnome merchandise anytime soon, eh?

Zz.