There's a thin line between dark humor and poor taste when it comes to the KICK-ASS films, and I think the direction of Matthew Vaughn allowed the first to fall into one category and the lack thereof left the sequel far into the second. KICK-ASS 2 didn't garner the ratings or money of the first but it was still somewhat profitable. The creators of the comic, Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., recently spoke up about the possibility of a third, as well as co-star Jim Carrey who was vary vocal about denouncing the film before its release.
Mark Millar had this to say:
The second one didn’t make as much. It cost a little less at around $24 million, made $61 million and made about $100 million again on DVD and TV rights. It was still profitable. It was by no means THE LONE RANGER. But does that mean we’ll make another one again? I don’t know. It’s definitely up in the air, and we’ll just have to see. Matthew [Vaughn] is a guy who I trust to make that decision. If he decides he does want to do it, I know he’ll get it done well. And he’s got the movie rights, so it’s ultimately his decision. I speak to Matthew every day, and we haven’t discussed KICK-ASS 3 so who knows? The option is always open.
John Romita Jr. said this about Jim Carrey:
As for Jim Carrey, I know I’ll never work with that bonehead again, so let me say this; I think Mark and I have talked about this before, but here’s a guy who could have capitalized on the character he played and played it toward his anti-gun stance. The character he played gave up weapons – gave up guns — and became a good guy. Anybody with three quarters of an education could have figured out how to fold that idea in with their anti-gun ideas. He’s not a smart enough guy to do that. He cashed his check and took his money, and then he went and pulled a bunch of crap on our film. He took money out of their pockets, and he should be ashamed of himself.
As much as I don't like KICK-ASS 2, John Romita Jr. does provide a good point. I'm sure actors have done plenty of movies that they're not particularly proud of in the span of their discography, but it does strike me as unprofessional to publicly slam a movie and possibly hurt it's box-office draw before it's been released. Regardless, KICK-ASS 2 felt like a made-for-TV film, so if I never hear about a KICK-ASS 3 in the works . . . I'd be okay with that.