Rocket Pictures to produce animated feature film of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat
Elton John’s Rocket Pictures has acquired the film rights to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s global stage phenomenon, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat, and is embarking on an all-new animated family feature film, in association with The Really Useful Group, the company announced today.
Rocket Pictures CEO Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish will produce the film with The Really Useful Group. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice and Elton John will executive produce.
Steve Hamilton Shaw of Rocket Pictures says: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat is one of the most popular musical experiences ever conceived. We are excited about the huge potential of a contemporary animated version, and we’re thrilled to bring this to the big screen in partnership with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.”
Originally created by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for performance in schools, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat, is the most performed musical in history. Since its first performance four generations of children have become parents and grandparents listening to, and performing the work. Today it is performed thousands of times a year by school children across the globe. The success of the piece in schools has given rise to an international theatrical phenomenon. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has now been seen by an estimated 26 million people, earning over $600m at the box office as it continues to enthrall audiences around the world. It premiered on Broadway in 1982 at the Royale Theatre and became a critical and box office hit, landing multiple Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The show has notched up a record 30 years of continuous professional touring around the U.K, will tour the U.S. later in 2014 and is a regular in international markets including South Africa and Korea.
The project is the latest in a ramping up of Rocket Pictures’ feature film slate. Rocket Pictures is currently producing Rocketman, the highly-anticipated spectacular musical reinvention of Elton John’s life, with Tom Hardy starring as Sir Elton John being co-financed by AI Film and Focus Features distributing. Rocket Pictures is also at work on Sherlock Gnomes, the sequel to Rocket Pictures’ 3D animated hit Gnomeo & Juliet, which was released by Disney and earned $200 million worldwide, and the animated family film Will Gallows and the Snake Bellied Troll, written and to be directed by Kelly Asbury.
Rocket Pictures is Elton’s film, television and theatrical production company that focuses on family and music-related projects across multiple platforms.
The Really Useful Group is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre producing and rights licensing company and controls the theatrical rights for all of Andrew’s works, including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Sunset Boulevard.
The Really Useful Group reached over 20 million people across the globe last year from live theatre and concert audiences, cinema goers, television viewers and music fans, to social media and art lovers. 2014 will see The Really Useful Group continue to work across film, television and theatre as it produces and develops new projects and partnerships worldwide alongside its ongoing work in education, amateur licensing and music publishing.