While "thou shall be funny" didn't make the cut for the Ten Commandments, we guarantee it's near the top of the list for some nervous Hollywood suits.

Executives at Universal Pictures are praying for barrels of laughs and a hefty box office, because, per the Los Angeles Times, at the rate Evan Almighty is burning through its budget, the movie is on track to become the most expensive comedy ever committed to celluloid.

A sequel to the 2003 Jim Carrey-fronted hit Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty finds Steve Carell in the starring role, reprising the minor character he played in the original, Buffalo TV anchor Evan Baxter. This time around, Baxter is center stage, having become a self-absorbed congressman. One day God (Morgan Freeman) appears to Baxter and orders him to make like Noah and amass hundreds of animals into a gigantic ark to save humanity from a cataclysmic flood.

Per the Times, the production of Evan Almighty has faced the cinematic equivalent of the Ten Plagues, which have jacked up the film's price tag. Bad weather in Virginia last March delayed filming, forcing producers to add 11 extra days to the shooting schedule. Construction teams had to build three massive arks. And the supporting cast of critters has also been less than cooperative. Wrangling the hundreds of animals was a logistical nightmare, requiring additional time to get the necessary shots. In the cases where the animals weren't ready for their close-ups, producers had to turn to complicated, and expensive, visual effects to fill in the story.

As a result, the Times calculates Evan's budget ballooning from an estimated $140 million to $160 million. By the time the flick in finished and in theaters, the bottom line could approach $175 million, the newspaper reports, with marketing and distribution costs possibly bringing its total to $250 million. That's the kind of figure typically associated with event films by the likes of Cameron, Spielberg and Lucas, not comedies helmed by Tom Shadyac, the guy who brought us Liar Liar and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Despite its skyrocketing budget, the studio says Evan is worth every cent.

"This movie is a great bet," Universal Chairman Marc Shmuger tells the Times. "It's a spectacle fantasy and also a comedy. And a sequel to one of the most successful hits in the studio's history."

Meanwhile, a studio insider connected closely with the project takes issue with the Times' story, insisting that the film's budget is in line with the kind of summer picture Universal is looking to make, and also insists it's unfair for the reporter to factor in marketing costs for a film that's not even complete and doesn't have a marketing budget yet.

"Our feeling about this movie first of all is that it shouldn't be limited to being defined as a comedy," the source tells E! Online, adding that Evan Almighty is more comparable to summer blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek and Spider-Man rather than a comedy like You, Me and Dupree. "It's an effects-laden, PG-, four-quadrant movie with universal themes that also happens to be a comedy."

The insider says Universal execs have every confidence the Evan Almighty is a smart investment for the studio.

Bruce Almighty's budget topped out at $125 million, including marketing and promotion, and grossed over $500 million worldwide, making it one of the studio's most profitable pictures of 2003. Given Evan's overruns, it is possible Universal might not make a profit until the movie's released overseas or even until it hits DVD.

Shadyac wrapped principle photography in August and is facing a complicated postproduction process due to all the F/X. According to the Times, Universal was initially targeting a holiday 2006 release, but has now settled on a date of June 22, 2007.

It's easily the biggest project Carrell has ever done. The funnyman, who stars in NBC's The Office, vaulted to the comedic A-list on the strength of last year's The 40-Year-Old Virgin and is currently in theaters with the low-budget hit Little Miss Sunshine.

In any case, if the Times' figures are accurate, Evan Almighty will blow away the budgets of Warner Bros.' 1999 flop, Wild Wild West ($170 million) and Sony's 2002 success Men in Black II ($140 million).

But do such figures matter to audiences?

"I think the box office will be affected by how good the movie looks and how funny the comedy is. I don't think people are going to pay too much attention to budget," says Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com.

"I think the issue here is that Bruce Almighty is a tough act to follow and without Jim Carrey you need to have some other bells and whistles there to get people to come in. [Universal is] banking on amazing special effects and production values to make it a must-see comedy and that could explain a lot of these cost overruns."

As for Hollywood's spending habit, Pandya notes that it's unusual for studio comedies to come in higher than the $85 million to $100 million that a typical Carrey or Adam Sandler vehicle costs. Whether Evan Almighty will earn a profit for Universal depends on how the studio positions it, he adds.

"I think a bulk of the money will come from the North American market, both theatrical and DVD," says Pandya. "One thing they're gambling on is the special effects. If it looks like Chronicles of Narnia, where it's this epic adventure kind of thing, that may sell. Or if they mold it like a Men in Black, in a sort of action vein, it could do well.

"It's really going to come down to how funny the movie is and how good the marketing is."