Elf includes Will Ferrell as "Buddy" the elf, who was raised in the North Pole most of his life until he finds out he's an actual human, thus goes on an adventure to find his real father - "Walter Hobbs" aka Las Vegas actor James Caan. Caan recently revealed in an interview why there was never a sequel!
Will Ferrell And Director Jon Favreau's Rocky Relationship Prevented Elf Sequel
While everything seemed merry on screen, it turns out that things weren't entirely that way behind the camera. James Caan explained to the radio show, The Fan in Cleveland, that there were plans to make an Elf 2, and he was thrilled to be apart of a franchise film:
"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.’"
However, the relationship between Ferrell and director Jon Favreau was strained, as Caan further commented, "The director and Will didn’t get along very well. Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director. He had it in his contract. It was one of those things."
Favreau is known to have produced major Hollywood blockbusters like The Avengers film franchise, as well as directing Iron Man and its sequel and the live-action Disney movie, The Jungle Book. He told Yahoo! Movies back in 2016 that making a sequel would be "a big gamble", as there would be a "risk of diminishing the original."
Although we would have absolutely loved a sequel, having issues with a director is a pretty big reason to not want to continue filming. Let's see what's in store for this holiday season...
"It's an honor"
