The holidays are right around the corner, and that means at least at one point in the next couple of months Will Ferrell fully dressed as an elf is going featured in the TV movie of the night for a couple of channels. Some folks are going to want to take that walk down memory lane and stream Elf on Netflix as well. What if we told you that there was going to be a sequel for the movie? In fact, that sequel was basically greenlit. At the end of the day though it was the “Anchorman” star who backed out. Ferrell says he didn’t believe in the movie, but the issue may have been personal!
Why Ferrell Is Saying That He Backed Out of Elf 2
Will Ferrell recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter and got asked about the potential sequel to Elf. Will was more or less honest about the reason why he ultimately backed out of the film. Saying that he just didn’t believe that the sequel was any good. The Hollywood Reporter estimates that Will would’ve been paid around 29 million dollars to reprise his role. Ferrell admitted that the pay day for the sequel would’ve been a good one. He felt though that he could not in good conscience go out and promote a movie he knew was bad. He said on the matter,
“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place, which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money,'”
Maybe It Wasn’t The Movie That Was Bad The Issue Was Ferrell Didn’t Want Favreau Directing
“The director and Will didn’t get along very well,” Caan then elaborated. “Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director, and [Favreau] had it in his contract. It was one of those things.”
How Much Money Could An Elf Sequel Have Generated?