Sherlock Holmes might have been overshadowed at the box office by the behemoth that is Avatar but the Victorian era detective tale hasn’t done too shabbily for itself, pulling in $389 million worldwide since its Christmas Day opening. Robert Downey Jr. also nabbed a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Holmes.

Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting that director Guy Ritchie is abandoning his adaptation of the Lobo comics to fast track the Holmes sequel.

Joel Silver, a producer of both films spoke to the Times. “I don’t think he’s going to do it now,” he said of Ritchie directing Lobo. “The studio wants us and Guy to focus on making another Sherlock Holmes. So I think we’re going to be doing that. But we’re seeing what happens with this. Everybody is analyzing everything. It’s all kind of happening right now as we talk.”

Lobo would not be the first movie to get veered off course to make way for the sleuth sequel. The Times also recently reported that Downey Jr. had dropped out of Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens, presumably to free up time to reunite with co-star Jude Law on Baker Street.

Lobo, about an alien interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter, will likely go ahead with a different director, said Silver.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation