Ace Ventura 3 In Development at Amazon With Sonic The Hedgehog Writers

03/19/2021 01:03 pm EDT

Ace Ventura 3 is reportedly in development at Amazon Prime Video. That big update about Jim Carrey's classic Ace Ventura: Pet Detective franchise actually came in the unlikely form of a retrospective about Morgan Creek Entertainment, the film production company that launched films like Ace Ventura, Major League, True Romance, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Last of the Mohicans and other '90s cult-classics. In an interview about what was next for the studio, Morgan Creek's team let it be known that Ace Ventura 3 is in the works, and Sonic The Hedgehog writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller are onboard:

"We're pretty excited about our franchise developments with Exorcist and the Ace Ventura franchise..." Morgan Creek said in a statement to Park Circus. "During COVID, audiences have been in love and are thrilled to have beloved characters brought back with new stories. Ace Ventura will see a new day at Amazon as a major motion-picture/theatrical with the Sonic the Hedgehog writers."

Interest in Ace Ventura (and a lot of other '80s and '90s comedy films) has surged in the last few years - especially in 2020, where new content was thin. Jim Carrey helped spark some of that renewed fan enthusiasm after he brought out the Ace Ventura in brief flashes last year. First, Carrey did some Ace Ventura impressions early in the year while out promoting Sonic The Hedgehog (in which he starred as the villain Dr. Robotnik); Carrey then put a point on the entire year in politics when he completed his Saturday Night Live arc as Joe Biden with a big Ace Ventura reference. In the full statement from Morgan Creek, the studio points out just how much the popularity of the Ace Ventura Facebook Page has surged in the last year. The momentum is there!

More to the point: Amazon Studios is quickly seeing the value in investing in nostalgic sequels. Eddie Murphy's Coming 2 America was the biggest streaming movie release of the last year and was a trending topic throughout its opening weekend (the currency of streaming entertainment). Ace Ventura 3 would be an easy win: just get Jim Carrey back, surround him with some younger comics, a bunch of great animal actors, and some kind of redemption for the original film's LGBTQ+ missteps. Easy.

Note: The statement from Morgan Creek says Ace Ventura 3 will be a "theatrical" release, so looks like studios are planning for a return to the normal business model, soon enough.

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