Jim Carrey almost starred in ‘Bruce Almighty’ sequel ‘Brucifer’ with 'undead' Jennifer Aniston

Jim Carrey's beloved Bruce Almighty was a resounding success when it hit the big screen in 2003 - but it almost had a much darker sequel.

The hit comedy, which followed news reporter Bruce who gains the powers of God (Morgan Freeman), scooped up $484.6 million (£401.5 million) in the global box office, and ended up being one of Jim Carrey's most successful films of all time.

Bruce Almighty was swiftly followed up by Evan Almighty - a film about Bruce's work rival Evan (Steve Carell) who finds himself in a Noah's Ark situation ahead of an enormous flood.

But, before screenwriters Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe landed on that sequel, they briefly toyed with a far more sinister follow-up.

Universal Pictures

Steve and Mark had drawn up plans for Bruce and his partner Grace (Jennifer Aniston) to return for a sequel called Brucifer, which would have seen Jim Carrey's character inherit the powers of the devil.

That is an undeniably catchy film title, to be fair.

But even though a lot of people were behind the idea, it never came to be.

“[Jim Carrey’s] manager and him wanted to do Brucifer,” Steve Koren told Variety.

"We went in and pitched it, but it never quite worked out... It would have been another giant movie and I don’t think they wanted to do it.

"It just didn’t work out for some reason, but a lot of people loved it, including Jim."

The writers explained that the film would have seen news anchor Bruce turn evil after the death of his girlfriend Grace.

Sounds a little grim, doesn't it?

But Jim Carrey saw the vision.

Universal

"You tend to lose your faith when the world seems unfair, and that’s what got him", Steve Koren recalled.

"It came from a serious place, but we were gonna write it in a very friendly way. We certainly didn’t want to depress people."

In the unmade sequel, Bruce would have used his satanic powers to bring Grace back from the dead, and when the writers pitched this to Jim, he 'was laughing his ass off'.

Mark explained: "The world had not gone his way since he was God. Everything was great for a while; he was married and it all fell apart.

"He was once again questioning everything and then got a different way to solve things."

The Liar Liar actor 'totally understood' that the film was going to be a big comedy, but Steve and Mark suspect that the idea 'scared' the studio.

Unfortunately, Evan Almighty, which the studio opted for instead, wasn't as big a hit as they were hoping for.

In fact, it was one of the biggest box office flops of all time, with a global box office total of $173.4 million (£143.7 million).

They should have gone for zombie Jennifer Aniston when they had the chance.