In slightly awesome music and film news, Elton John’s production company, Rocket Pictures, will produce a Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat animated feature. Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish (Elton’s husband) will produce the film, and John will executive produce it with the play’s creators, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The film is also part of a collaboration with Webber’s Really Useful Group.

In 1982, when Webber and Rice premiered Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, it became an instant hit. The duo initially created the musical to be performed in schools. Currently, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is done thousands of times a year by children across the world. The Hollywood Reporter estimates that over 26 million people have seen the play, and it earned over $600 million at the box office. Besides monetary success, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat won several Tony Awards and received a lot of critical praise. The play is based on the “coat of many colors” story of Joseph from the Bible’s Book of Genesis. It intends to entertain and educate children and adults alike. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat continues to tour-a record 30 years-all across the UK, and plans to tour again in the United States later in 2014.

John and his production company chose to turn this play into a film because it follows Rocket Pictures’ aim to make family and music related projects over multiple media platforms. The production company recently increased their projects load. Last year, Rocket Pictures announced plans to produce Rocketman, a musical about John’s life starring Tom Hardy. They’re also doing a sequel to their 3D movie Gnomeo and Juliet called Sherlock Gnomes. Additionally, Rocket Pictures is developing another animated film called Will Gallows and the Snake-Bellied Troll. It’s written and directed by Kelly Asbury.

This is not the first time Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was animated: Joseph: King of Dreams was a direct-to-video 2000 production by DreamWorks featuring Ben Affleck as the voice of Joseph.

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