In the days before the dominance of Marvel, 1994’s The Mask was one of the hottest comic book adaptations of the decade. Part of a hat-trick of movies that year that put star Jim Carrey on the map – the others were Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber – the film earned a seriously impressive $351 million at the box office. Now, with superhero flicks the name of the game, it’s possible that the franchise could be relaunched in an exciting way.
We Got This Covered has heard that Warner Bros. is interested in resurrecting the Dark Horse Comics hero for a new big screen outing. What’s more, our sources – the same ones who told us that Bill Murray is returning in Ghostbusters 3 and that another Scream movie is in the works, both of which ended up being right – say that their first choice is to get Carrey back to play Stanley Ipkiss, the unlucky everyman who becomes a living cartoon when he puts on an enchanted Norse mask. It’s currently unclear if he’s been approached, but we’ve been told that the studio is definitely keen on the idea of working with the actor again.
You might remember there already being talk of a new Mask film over the summer, with co-creator Mike Richardson saying that he’s involved with a reboot that would bring the tone closer to the darker style of the comics and star a female comedian in the lead. From what we understand, both a female-led reboot and the Carrey-starring sequel could move forward as separate projects, as the studio is certainly hot on the idea of bringing the property back, but right now, it seems as if the one with Carrey is taking priority.
Clearly, WB is aiming to bring back The Mask franchise in a big way and is currently keeping their options open, with both of these projects in early, early development. I’d imagine at some point the studio will just pick the one they really want to go with and the other will be quietly shelved, as they’ve got to be careful how they do this seeing as 2005’s Son of Mask was an absolute stinker. But who knows? Both pics could end up materializing and we may wind up with a whole new series of movies.
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, though. Right now, it’s still too early to say for sure what’ll happen, but tell us, does the sound of a sequel to The Mask starring Jim Carrey sound sssmokin’ to you? Let us know in the comments section down below.
