Jim Carrey is returning as Dr. Seuss’s most famous character in The Grinch 2.

By Nathan Kamal | Published

Jim Carrey is returning to Universal Pictures for The Grinch 2, once again playing Dr. Seuss’s most famous and ill-tempered creation. According to our trusted and proven sources, the Sonic the Hedgehog actor is coming back as the character after an absence of over 20 years, which seems par for the course for the star. Although what exactly Jim Carrey might be stealing this time in The Grinch 2 (or what size his heart will swell to) is currently uncertain, it continues his recent willingness to appear in sequels.

While Jim Carrey may be returning for The Grinch 2, it was not that long ago that the actor was famously adamant against appearing in any sequels to his movies. After Carrey filmed 1995’s Ace Venture 2: When Nature Calls, he swore off making continuations of his films for many years, later saying “I find sequels are a function of commerce for the most part. At least the two I’ve done, they were characters I enjoyed doing, but I did find myself almost parroting myself at that point.”

It probably did not help the chances for Jim Carrey sequels that he rapidly became one of the biggest box office draws of the 1990s and (after The Truman Show and Man on the Moon) a critically acclaimed actor who could presumably pass them up if he chose to. However, something seems to have changed for Jim Carrey in the last decade or so, hence the development of The Grinch 2.

In recent years, Jim Carrey has starred in a sequel to 1994’s Dumb and Dumber (following a 2003 prequel that did not involve him or Jeff Daniels), a Sonic the Hedgehog sequel, and has announced he would like to make a sequel to 2003’s Bruce Almighty (following a Steve Carrell sequel he again was not involved in). As such, Jim Carrey in The Grinch 2 feels almost inevitable.

The 2000 version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas was directed by Ron Howard and was reportedly an arduous and lengthy process for everyone involved, with the hours of prosthetics needed driving Jim Carrey (and his makeup artist) nearly insane. However, the movie did also make $345 million dollars and was the second-highest-grossing Christmas movie, after Home Alone, for years until it was overtaken by Benedict Cumberbatch’s animated version of the story. With that kind of box office gross, Jim Carrey and The Grinch 2 were only a matter of time.

While it is likely that Jim Carrey will be returning for The Grinch 2 for a new Christmas story, possibly involving the Grinch now defending Christmas from some new threat so as to turn the tables, it does not have to be like that. The original 1966 animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas was followed by the little-remembered 1977 ABC animated special Halloween Is Grinch Night, in which the inhabitants of Whoville are terrorized by the mountain-dwelling misanthrope on the spookiest of nights. That is a Jim Carrey movie we would like to see, even if he has to go through the makeup again.

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