Ron Howard refused to have any association with the film, feeling concerned that the whole point of the first film would immediately be squandered.
Ron Howard passed on directing the film and directed Willow (1988) instead.
Producers Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck, co-owned the rights to the sequel with 20th Century Fox. Initially opposed to the concept of a second film, they only went ahead with it out of a need to preserve the integrity of the original. As it transpired, Lili, who was very much opposed to doing a sequel, had only nominal interest, as she was busy prepping her own directorial debut, Rush (1991).