Last we heard from Deadline, “Anchorman 2,” while scuttled by Paramount because of its $60 million budget, still could potentially happen down the road.
But the budget probably wasn’t the only issue and it’s likely Paramount wasn’t convinced of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell’s outlandish (but awesome) idea to make the sequel a bonafide musical, that would hit Broadway first and then the big screen.
While an amazing and ambitious project for hardcore “Anchorman” fans (and in step with some of their initial, very off-the-wall concepts for the first film), its questionable that mainstream audiences would connect with it, hence Paramount’s refusal to give the project a green light.
Either way, it’s all moot now, in an interview with Cinemablend, director/writer Adam McKay says they’ve moved on and the project is essentially dead. He does leave a small hope for four years down the road, but it sounds very unlikely.
“[‘Anchorman 2’] s not happening, for sure, one-hundred percent. I’ll put it to bed. The only way it could come back [would be] in two years, three years, but to line everyone’s schedule up and to get everything done, and when it fell apart, to put that back together again you’re still talking about waiting. If I go do ‘The Boys,’ that’s another two years, year and a half. You don’t know what people are doing when I get done with that. It’s a lot of work to line it up. That was why, no hard feelings against Paramount, we were doing many cool projects over there, but that’s why when it didn’t quite work out with the numbers it was like “that’s it.” You can’t wait for that or be in a holding pattern. But, oh well. Maybe it’s for the best. You don’t need sequels for everything. It was such a great experience doing that, but let it stand.”
And so when one door closes, another opens, right? Mckay also says there’s a small chance that there could be a “Step Brothers 2,” but it mostly sounds like wishful thinking. “Step Brothers” starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as two adult, developmentally-challenged step-brothers forced to live with each other, has its small cult audience (which includes us, it’s bonkers), but its following isn’t like “Anchorman.”
Or is it? Like all cult followings, 2004’s “Anchorman” took a few years to amass its widespread adoration, and “Step Brothers” was around the same kind of financial success give or take and even crossed the $100 million mark domestically during its release in 2008 ($128 million worldwide). However, the budget was $65 million without P&A which sounds high. (The “Anchorman” budget was $26 million and it grossed $80 million domestically).
What seems infinitely clear is that McKay, Ferrell and Reilly loved their second collaboration (“Talladega Nights” was their first) together and there eventually will be more to come. McKay says the trio are kicking around “three or four other ideas” for films, but none have quite coalesced yet.
While we’re curious to see what McKay could do with a super hero satire like “The Boys,” this writer would honestly rather see another Ferrell-driven film. Hopefully we’ll be singing the same tune after “The Other Guys” as wells do eventually run dry (hell, those trailers are pretty funny though).
