San Diego will have to continue to stay classy. News anchor icon Ron Burgundy made a surprise appearance on Conan last night, flute in hand and ready to “jam with the cats” that are Jimmy Vivino & The Basic Cable Band.
Keeping in character for the entire sketch on the late night talk show, Will Ferrell as Ron announced that there will be another story to tell regarding the legend of the newsman, as he and Paramount Pictures came to terms for getting Anchorman 2 into production:
“I want to announce this to everyone here in the Americas,” he said. “To my friends, in Spain, Turkey and the U.K., including England… As of 0900 Mountain Time, Paramount Pictures and myself, Ronald Joseph Aaron Burgundy, have come to terms on a sequel for Anchorman. It is official, there will be a sequel to Anchorman.”
The possibility of ever seeing a sequel to the 2004 cult hit starring Ferrell as the ’70s era Action 4 newsman, Christina Applegate, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Bob Koeschner, and Fred Williard seemed like a longshot in recent years. Speaking to MTV in early 2010, director Adam McKay gave more details on the proposed sequel.
“We had an idea and we contacted Steve and Paul and Koechner and Christina and checked in with everyone and they were all game for it,” McKay said at the time. “It’s a tricky movie because everyone went and did really well after it, so everyone’s prices went up and everyone’s time got a little more valuable. But at the same time, graciously, Steve and Paul and everyone agreed to cut their price to come and do it, which you don’t see very often in Hollywood — and cut their price substantially.”
Paramount ultimately officially passed on the project, as reported by McKay in April 2010 on his Twitter feed.
“So bummed. Paramount basically passed on Anchorman 2. Even after we cut our budget down. We tried.”
Deadline reports that McKay will return to direct as well as co-write the script with Ferrell. Steve Carell (Brick Tamland), Paul Rudd (Brian Fantana) and David Koechner (Champ Kind) are also reportedly on board as well.
More importantly, will Burgundy’s beloved Baxter be back for the sequel?
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