Why Will Ferrell Rejected a $29 Million Offer for Elf 2

Will Ferrell explains why he said elf no to Elf 2, a sequel to the 2003 holiday hit Elf. Ferrell, who would have unwrapped $29 million for stepping back into the yellow tights of Buddy the Elf, reveals in a new interview that the rehashed premise of Elf 2: Buddy Saves Christmas would have made it on Santa’s naughty list as it was “not good.” The elf-raised human saved Christmas in the first film, where the holiday helper — along with his long-lost father Walter (James Caan) and disgruntled Gimbles worker Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) — inspire enough Christmas spirit to make magic for Santa Claus (Ed Asner). 

But the script for Elf 2 was anything but magical. 

“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,’” Ferrell told The Hollywood Reporter. “And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”

In 2013, a decade after Elf cemented the Saturday Night Live and Old School comedian as a movie star, Ferrell said he would “absolutely not” reprise Buddy for an Elf 2. 

“I just think it would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back in the elf tights,” he told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live. “Buddy the middle-aged elf.”

According to Caan, who was willing to return for the sequel, the real reason there’s no Elf 2 is because Ferrell and director Jon Favreau couldn’t buddy up a second time. 

“We were gonna do it, and I thought ‘Oh my God, I finally have a franchise movie. I can make some money, let my kids do what the hell they want to do.’ The director and Will didn’t get along very well,” he told 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland in 2020. “Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director. He had it in his contract. It was one of those things.”

According to Favreau, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. executives have repeatedly pitched the Iron Man and Mandalorian filmmaker on an Elf 2. The original film grossed a global $233 million from a reported budget of $33 million. 

“In the beginning, there was talk of sequel, and it never came to be, probably for the best as now it exists as its own thing. But it comes up,” Favreau said at the time. “I hear from the studio who pitch me different takes on it. There is part of me that wonders if there’s anything to be done to follow-up Elf, but I think a straight sequel is probably not the right move.”

A sequel, Favreau added, would be “a big gamble. If I don’t do anything I’d be very happy with what [Elf] is. The minute you take it on, you try to add on to something, you always run the risk of diminishing from the original.”