Detective Carl Returns

Detective Carl Returns is an upcoming American adult computer animated buddy cop action-comedy film directed by Conrad Vernon while serving as the sequel to the 1990 film Detective Carl. Jason Bateman and Jim Carrey reprise their roles as Carl Jenkins and Josh Heinken. The film will follow Carl and Josh as they stop a druglord as well as investigating a series of murders with the help of an old friend.

Development for the film started in 1992 but was cancelled and restarted after various script issues as well as creative differences between the studio and Ramis. By 2010, Ramis pitched a new script for the film but his death in 2014 put the film back in development hell until Bateman as well as Ryan Reynolds pitched a new script to MGM. With Orion being revived by MGM in 2014, it was announced that Orion would be back distributing the film as well as production eventually starting in 2019 and the film receiving more modern animation giving the characters a more glossy look while upgrading to computer-animation while keeping the styles of the original film.

It is scheduled to be released by United Artists Releasing in the United States on January 13, 2023 in Dolby Cinema and IMAX formats.

Plot
33 years after the events of the first film, Carl Jenkins and Josh Heinken who are now at the top of the police force must stop his plans for retirement early after a druglord runs rampant through the city as well as the death of an old friend.

Cast

 * Jason Bateman as Detective Lieutenant Carl Jenkins, a high-rank middle-aged detective/cop who is a lieutenant of the police force and Josh Heiniken's best friend/partner.
 * Jim Carrey as Detective Lieutentant Josh Heinken, a high-rank middle-aged detective/cop who is a lieutenant of the police force and Carl Jenkins' best friend/partner.
 * Ving Rhames as Officer Barry Johnson, the Director-General of Police (DGP) and the chief of police.
 * Wesley Snipes as Caine Brown Jr, the leader of the drug cartel/street gang, The Silent Death, and son of deadly murderer/gang lord Caine Brown.
 * Johnny Depp as Corporal Grant Cross
 * Robin Wright as Mary Jenkins, a school teacher who is Carl Jenkins' wife.
 * Alex Wolff as Carl "CJ" Jenkins Jr., Carl Jenkins' and Mary Jenkins' son.
 * Lucas Till as Jeremy Heinken, Josh and Linda's son.
 * Meg Ryan as Linda Heinken, Josh's wife.
 * Bruce Dern as Walter Jenkins, Carl's arrogant and hip father.
 * Bette Midler as Willow Jenkins, Carl's aging yet rude mother.
 * Sam Rockwell as Stephen Hill, the newest cop in the police force as well as Josh's old friend.
 * Ryan Reynolds as Austin Jenkins, an FBI agent who is the goofy younger brother of Carl Jenkins.
 * Ice Cube as Crackhead Kenneth
 * Craig Robinson as Quannell Washington
 * Patton Oswalt as Blake, a local cook.
 * Michael Cera as Daniel, a nervous and timid new cop of the police force.

Development
Discussion for a sequel to Detective Carl was made since 1991 and eventually were cancelled due to creative differences between Harold Ramis and Orion along with budget issues with Ramis stating that he would focus more on the television series than a sequel. By August 2010, Harold Ramis pitched a new script for the Detective Carl sequel. In However, in 2018, the project was revived after a revised version of Harold Ramis script by Jason Bateman, Jim Carrey, and Ryan Reynolds was pitched to MGM with Bateman stating that "this was his passion project and I would wanna finish it" while Carrey himself stating that he "always dreamt of making a sequel to Detective Carl '; Reynolds previously voiced Austin Jenkins in a brief minor role in the original film. The film eventually started production in 2019. By 2021, it was announced that Bateman, Carrey, Johnny Depp, Meg Ryan, and Reynolds were all announced to reprise their roles as well. Depp stated in an interview that it was a good reunion with Bateman and his other fellow cast members. By January 2022, it was announced that Ving Rhames would reprise his role as Barry Johnson while Wesley Snipes was cast in June 2022 as Caine Brown Jr and Alex Wolff and Lucas Till as Carl and Josh's respective sons. Reynolds, Bateman, and Carrey all reiterated their interest in all the surviving cast members of the original film to return. Despite his character's death at the end of the original film, Kevin Costner also stated that he was interested in returning for the sequel as well. Additionally, Bateman and Carrey also reiterated that the film will be rated R like the first installment. MGM also stated that the film will be even more adult-oriented than the first film.

Animation
Like the first film, the film will be animated by Moving Picture Company with additional animation by Animal Logic and MGM Animation Canada. The film will be computer-animated with stylized animation. The film's budget is $185 million, the most expensive for an R rated movie as well as the most for an R rated computer-animated film.

Music
In 2021, it was announced that James Newton Howard will return from the original film to do the score for this film.

Release
Detective Carl Returns will be released on January 13, 2023. The film was previously set to be released on December 9, 2022 until getting pushed back to January 27, 2023 to take advantage of the empty month. Later the film was pushed up to January 13, 2023 due to Kraven the Hunter being pushed to October as well as production of film is being done at a more quicker pace. It'll be shown in Dolby Cinema, IMAX, 4DX, and ScreenX formats. Like the first film, Universal Pictures will distribute the film internationally. The film was approved for Chinese release as well with the first film having a re-release in China on December 9, 2022.

Returns will hold one-day public screenings in select theaters on December 28, 2022 before it's general release.

The film is rated R by the MPA (like the original film) for "strong bloody violence and gore, drug use, pervasive language, and brief sexuality." Like the original film, it was initially given an NC-17 rating but a sex scene was cut in order to receive an R rating. Universal Pictures China reportedly didn't have to make cuts for the film in it's China release with the China government calling the content in the film suitable for release.

Marketing
The official website for the film was launched on March 1, 2022; while introducing a marketing campaign as well as an interactive layout to promote the film with interactive character fun facts on the website as well. On June 23, 2022, Reynolds, on his Instagram, uploaded a first look at the main antagonist of the film, Caine Brown Jr, with finished animation.

MGM's official YT channel released a red-band teaser trailer on August 3, 2022, and was released in front of Bullet Train in theaters. The trailer received universal praise for the trailer with commentators calling the animation "crisp, bright, and beautiful" while calling the return of the titicular Detective Carl Jenkins and Josh Heinken "outstanding" with the trailer receiving 172.2 million views within 24 hours, the most for an R rated film, a red-band trailer, and an R rated animated feature film. Additionally, character posters for Carl, Josh, Barry, Caine, and Grant were all released that same day as well as 90 seconds of footage from the film being released. A green-band trailer was later released on August 10, 2022, with new footage replacing the explicit footage rather than an edited version of the trailer. A second and final trailer was released on November 30, 2022 with a green band version and a red band version both respectively being uploaded on MGM's YouTube.

Box office prediction
Six weeks before the film's release, BoxOffice Pro predicted that the film would make $80-90 million in its 4 day opening weekend, including $68-78 million in it's regular 3 day opening weekend with a final total domestic gross of $205-249 million. Within the the first 11 hours of being on sale, Detective Carl Returns became the quickest and best R-rated pre-seller of all time for Fandango and Regal Cinemas respectively while also being a historical best for a film by a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer company.