MTV orders sequel to 2001 stoner movie 'How High'
MTV has teamed up with Universal 1440 Entertainment to produce a sequel to the 2001 stoner film 'How High,' which starred Method Man and Redman and was directed by then-debutant Jesse Dylan. Universal 1440 Entertainment, which is the production branch of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and which develops and produces live-action and animated non-theatrical projects directly for distribution across all forms of media, will be acting as the studio for the film.
'How High,' written by Dustin Abraham (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), it chronicled the life of two underachieving pot smokers, Silas (Method Man) and Jamal (Redman), who are visited by the ghost of Silas's recently deceased friend Ivory (Chuck Davis) after they used his ashes as fertilizer to grow a new batch of weed. However, the upcoming release will be a non-theatrical one, reports Deadline.
They proceed to smoke the pot before taking their 'THC' test — The Testing for Higher Credentials Exam, which is a parody of the SATs and a reference to Tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal psychoactive constituent of weed — and after the ghost of Ivory shows up and tells them the answers to all their questions in the exam, ace it with perfect scores and get accepted into Harvard.
The movie largely received negative reviews from critics, who slammed it as a 'sloppily constructed stoner movie filled with lame, vulgar jokes.' Another critic said the film had 'neither the redeeming social value of a cockfight not enough material to sustain it for 91 minutes.'
However, there were positives as well. Entertainment Weekly rated it third in their 'Best Stoner Movie' top ten list and it went on to win the Stony Award, which celebrates the 'highest and stoniest' movies and TV shows of the year, for Best Stoner movie in 2002.
The sequel has been penned by Artie Johann and Shawn Ries, known for their work on Fox's 'Family Guy.' It will follow two young but business-savvy stoners who embark on a pot-filled odyssey through Atlanta to find their missing weed, but to their dismay, discover a vast government conspiracy.
While its predecessor only saw limited success, it did appeal to a particular niche, as evidenced by its Stony Award win. And with multiple states now legalizing marijuana use in some form or the other since, that niche has grown, with it likely that this sequel will draw a larger number of interested viewers.
Set to shoot in Atlanta this following summer, Shauna Garr will serve as the executive producer for the project. She had previously acted as the producer for the original release in 2001 as well. Executives in charge of production at MTV are Morgana Rosenberg, Josh Vodnoy, and Jason Goldberg.