Major sequel was cancelled after Will Ferrell fell out with famous actor

Will Ferrell's fall out with a famous actor reportedly scuppered the chance of his iconic Christmas film becoming a franchise.

A lot of his fans would give their right arm for another instalment of Elf to watch on repeat over the festive season - but the actor actually turned down a whopping £23million to make a sequel.

According to Ferrell's late co-star James Caan, who played his father Walter Hobbs in the 2003 flick, it's all down to a feud between the comedian and the director of the movie, Jon Favreau.

Favreau has been both behind and in front of the camera throughout his lengthy career in Hollywood, as the filmmaker is also a decent screen star.

He explained that he 'wasn't particularly interested' in directing Elf when he first read the script, revealing that it was 'much darker' than the one that Ferrell later read from.

The Iron Man and Wolf of Wall Street actor spent a year rewriting it, as he previously told Rolling Stone that he thought it needed toning down quite a bit.

"It turned into more of a PG movie from a PG-13," Favreau said. "The character became a bit more innocent, and the world became more of a pastiche of the Rankin/Bass films.

"The studio read [the new script] and agreed to make it, and that’s when I was brought on to direct."

During the 2020 interview with the publication, he went on to praise Ferrell for 'being a fearless performer and throwing himself into' the role, while complimenting his commitment to 'physical comedy'.

But according to Caan, Favreau and Ferrell didn't share these kind of niceties while on the set of Elf.

Ferrell, Caan and Favreau pictured at the New York premiere of Elf (James Devaney/WireImage)

While discussing the prospect of a sequel to the beloved Christmas film, The Godfather star claimed that the Hollywood heavyweights 'didn't get along very well'.

Caan told the radio station 92.3 The Fan in 2020: "We were gonna do it and I thought, ‘Oh my god, I finally got a franchise movie, I could make some money, let my kids do what the hell they want to do.’

"The director [Favreau] and Will [Ferrell] didn’t get along very well.

"So, Will wanted to do it, he didn’t want the director, and he had it in his contract...it was one of those things."

Ferrell explained that he declined the opportunity to reprise his role as Buddy the Elf because he didn't believe in the script.

The actor turned down millions of dollars to create a sequel (New Line Cinema)

He previously told the Hollywood Reporter: "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'.

"I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie'."

Favreau, on the other hand, said that he believes Elf was a one and done job when asked about why the Christmas film didn't get a sequel.

"I think there's always room for new Christmas movies," he told Variety in 2023. "That particular film, I don't know what story would be told after that. It's very complete."