The Los Angeles Times reports that costs have skyrocketed for Universal's upcoming comedy "Evan Almighty" starring Steve Carell.

The sequel to "Bruce Almighty" features a bounty of visual effects and live animals, which had the studio forking out an initial $140 million budget outlay.

That amount has now swelled to $160 million and is still climbing. It's expected the production budget could hit $175 million by the end, and the marketing on top of that is expected to add another $75 million to the costs.

These figures will make the film the most expensive comedy ever, and whilst the studio is expecting a hit - the rub comes that comedies rarely do big business overseas - unlike major action films which can justify those large budgets.