Will Ferrell turned down an 'Elf' sequel that would've earned him $29 million

"Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

Apparently not green.

Within a long-ranging The Hollywood Reporter cover profile by Lacey Rose, it was revealed that Will Ferrell turned down an Elf sequel:

"Elf followed later that year, and though the feel-good Christmas comedy would prove another home run, Ferrell still remembers running around New York in his silly yellow tights, thinking, 'Boy, this could be the end.' Before its release, they’d held a series of test screenings. Ferrell’s manager would call with updates: 'He was like, ‘Well, the family one went great, but we could really get eviscerated in this next one. I’m looking at a bunch of what look like USC frat boys about to go in,'' recounts Ferrell, once a USC frat boy himself. 'Then later I hear, no, that group actually liked it, too.' The low-budget PG comedy generated raves—except from The Washington Post, which declared it 'the first and possibly the last Will Ferrell star vehicle'—and $220  million at the box office, cementing Ferrell’s status as a bona fide movie star. (A sequel was written, which would’ve paid him $29  million had Ferrell not balked at its rehashed premise...)."

"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, 54, told Rose of his reason for saying no. "And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.'"