Movies With Butter

According to ETOnline, Jim Carrey has left Dumb and Dumber To because he “grew increasingly frustrated” with New Line's lack of enthusiasm for sequel. In a statement, Carrey says, “I would have thought Dumb and Dumber To was a no-brainer, after all it's implied in the title.”

Peter Farrelly, the other half of the Farrelly Brothers, announced in April of this year that they're shooting the sequel to the 1994 comedy with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in September. But with Carrey's exit, the status of the project is in doubt.

Will New Line kill the movie altogether now that the movie's main attraction is gone, or will the studio try to find a replacement for Carrey? It's likely that New Line will try to woo Carrey back, and if they're not successful in that, they'll kill the project. Remember, the studio made a prequel without the principal cast and crew back in 2003's Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd which only managed to make $39 million at the box office worldwide.

We won't find out why Carrey left the movie until he, or people in the know, reveals what had happened, but the most likely scenario is the age-old disagreement over the movie's budget. They probably agreed to a budget, but the studio wants to lower that to a number Carrey finds unacceptable.

Of course, this may be a negotiating tactic by Carrey. By leaving, he's trying to force New Line to find “more enthusiasm” for the movie, after which he won't be so frustrated with the studio anymore.

The Farrelly Brothers' last movie, The Three Stooges, only managed to make $43 million on a budget of $30 million, and Jim Carrey isn't the box office draw he once was (his last comedy, Mr. Popper's Penguins, only managed to make $187 million at the box office worldwide), so it's understandable for New Line to be skittish about the Dumb and Dumber sequel. They probably ran the numbers and figured they need to lower the budget, something Carrey disagreed strongly with.

While not much in know about the plot of Dumb and Dumber To, it is supposed to follow Harry and Lloyd years after their first escapade.

Carrey can be seen in theaters starring opposite Steve Carell as rival magicians in the comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. That movie is scheduled for release sometime in 2013.

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