Half Baked 2 is getting closer to becoming a reality. The sequel was among a dozen projects selected earlier this week to receive part of a $40 million in tax credit allocated by the California Film Commission. According to the state tax credit, production needs to begin within the next 180 days, and for Half Baked 2, that will take place in Los Angeles. It was revealed at the end of last year that MacGyver reboot star Justin Hires was putting together the screenplay for the sequel.
As for who will be involved in Half Baked 2, that is unclear at the moment. Dave Chappelle will more than likely have nothing to do with the project after revealing his disappointment in the first installment. In 2014, Chappelle said, “Half Baked didn’t come out the way I wanted it to come out. I was real upset about that, cause it was a real cool script.” He seems to think that the movie was geared towards children, which was not the case when the he read the original script.
Though Dave Chappelle, who played both Thurgood Jenkins and the rapper Sir Smokes-A-Lot, probably won’t have anything to do with Half Baked 2, the story will reportedly focus on Jenkins’ son. No other details about the sequel have been made available and it remains to be seen if original stars Jim Breuer, Guillermo Diax, or Harland Williams will take part, though it would seem like they almost have to. While the story could go in a different direction, Half Baked 2 will need some of the original characters to be something that fans are going to want to see in theaters when it comes out.
Half Baked was far from a hit when it opened in theaters. It grossed just $17.5 million upon its release, though its budget was only $8 million. Critics blasted the movie and it seemed like it was doomed. However, once released on home video, it became a cult classic, mainly thanks in part to Dave Chappelle signing on with Comedy Central for Chappelle’s Show, which was huge and had fans looking for anything with the comedian’s name on it. Since then, Half Baked has been reexamined and even critics who originally blasted, came back around to it.
Justin Hires is excited and pretty confident about Half Baked 2. In December 2019 he said, “Excited to announce I’ll be writing the sequel to Half Baked. I know the original is a classic and yes this sequel will be [fire] because I’m writing it. Oh yeah, I write screenplays too.” While Hires sounds confident, fans of the original are going to need a lot more than a promise that it will be “fire.” No cast or director has been announced at this time, but if Half Baked 2 has to go into production in the next few months, we should know soon. Metaflix was the first to report on the Half Baked 2 news.
