In a rather surprising move, Warner Brothers has passed on a sequel to the 1994 hit comedy Dumb And Dumber which would have seen stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels returning to reprise their roles of Harry and Lloyd. Directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly are now eligible to shop the project, titled Dumb And Dumber To, to other studios.
The project had been in development at Warner subsidiary New Line for the past several years and was thought to be a lock with Carrey and Daniels’ participation. However, the studio balked at the rather low budget of $30 million when the similarly priced The Incredible Burt Wonderstone in which Carey co-starred bombed at the box office earlier this year. The original film cost $17 million to make and grossed more than $247 million.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the sequel would have seen “Carey and Daniels hit the road to find Daniels’ illegitimate daughter for a kidney transplant.”
Despite Warner’s cold feet, I don’t think that the Farrelly Brothers should have too much trouble finding another studio who would want to pick this up. Granted Carey’s career is not quite at the height it used to be, but I think that his return to a role that helped launch his film career into the stratosphere would generate a significant box office draw.
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