Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a 2013 American comedy film and the sequel to the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. As with the original film, it is directed by Adam McKay, produced by Judd Apatow, written by McKay and Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, and Fred Willard all reprising their roles from the first film.
Development for the film began as early as 2008, but Paramount Pictures turned down the proposed sequel. However, in March 2012, Ferrell officially announced the film was in production and filming began in March 2013. Unlike the first film, the film is distributed by Paramount Pictures instead of DreamWorks Pictures. The Legend Continues was released on December 18, 2013. It received generally positive reviews and grossed $173.6 million worldwide on a $50 million budget.
Plot
In 1979, Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone are husband-and-wife co-anchors for a prestigious news network in New York City. Mack Tannen, the most famous nightly news anchor in New York, is retiring. He promotes Veronica, making her the first female nightly news anchor in television history, and fires Ron due to his continuously sloppy performance on air. Ron grows jealous of Veronica's success and storms out of the house, leaving her and their 6-year-old son Walter.Six months later, Ron is back in San Diego, barely able to hold a job due to depression. After being fired from SeaWorld and botching a suicide attempt, Ron accepts a job offered to him by Freddie Shapp with GNN, the world's first 24-hour news network. Along with his dog Baxter, he reassembles his news team Champ Kind, Brian Fantana, and Brick Tamland. They are assigned the unpopular late-night timeslot and make a bet with obnoxious primetime anchorman Jack Lime that they will beat his ratings. Meanwhile, Ron finds that Veronica is dating psychologist Gary.
As GNN launches, Ron decides to broadcast what the people want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. He and his team devise a sensationalist and patriotic newscast. Their new approach is a hit, beating Jack in ratings massively, and the other news networks scramble to emulate them. Under the terms of the bet, Jack legally changes his name to Jack Lame. Ron and his team are promoted to primetime, where they enjoy fame and fortune. Ron's success excites GNN's manager, Linda Jackson, and they begin dating. Brick meets a similarly eccentric GNN office worker, Chani, and falls in love. Ron lets his newfound fame get to his head and neglects his parental obligations to Walter, angering Veronica. He also alienates Brian, Champ, and Brick, claiming he is tired of carrying them, and spiking Brian’s story about an airline run by GNN's owner.
During a party celebrating GNN's success, Jack causes Ron to slip and suffer a head injury, resulting in him becoming blind. Unable to read the news, Ron isolates himself in a lighthouse, unable to adjust to his loss of vision. Veronica arrives with Walter for a visit, announcing that she has dumped Gary and quit her job because Ron’s GNN antics ruined everything she loved about the news. Ron bonds with his family, gradually adjusting to his disability. Ron and Walter rehabilitate a small shark, naming him Doby before setting him free.
Ron discovers that Veronica was concealing messages from his eye doctor regarding an experimental procedure, since she thought his blindness has been significant in the family bonding. He leaves angrily, gets his vision restored, and returns to GNN. Back in New York, Veronica pleads with Ron to attend Walter's piano recital. An exclusive news story comes in, requiring Ron to cover it. However, on live TV, Ron instead says that news should inform, not entertain, delivers a two-sentence summary of Brian’s airline story, and leaves for Walter's recital. He is intercepted by an angered Jack and his team and several other news teams, all of whom want to kill him due to his fame. Champ, Brian, and Brick arrive to defend him and a massive battle ensues. Ron’s old arch-rival Wes Mantooth arrives and saves him from Jack’s news crew. Brick accidentally sets off an explosion. Ron reaches Walter's recital in time, and reconciles with Veronica and Walter.
While attending Brick and Chani's wedding on the beach, Ron spots Doby in the water. He greets him, only to be attacked. Baxter rescues him, he and Ron swim back on the beach.
Cast
Production
Development
This is the first film in the series to be released by Paramount Pictures, which acquired the DreamWorks back catalog in 2006, including ownership of the first movie and other films from DreamWorks that were made before the Paramount merger.In May 2008, Adam McKay said that he and Will Ferrell had talked about wanting to do an Anchorman sequel, saying: "I'm looking to do another movie, I might do this other movie called Channel 3 Billion which is kind of this science fiction/Brazil-type comedy. Then after that, Will and I are like, 'let's do Anchorman 2... so you're talking like 2 years maybe we'll do it. But we're going to do it, for sure." On July 23, 2008, McKay announced that he and Ferrell had begun work on the sequel. Carell and Rudd, both of whom had become major stars since Anchorman was released, agreed to take pay cuts for the movie, as did Ferrell himself. On April 29, 2010, McKay announced that Paramount Pictures had turned down a proposal for the sequel, despite the proposed pay cuts, saying: "So bummed. Paramount basically passed on Anchorman 2. Even after we cut our budget down. We tried."
In a May 2010 interview, Ferrell spoke about Paramount passing on the film, saying: "Well, you know, yeah, it's a little peculiar. On the one hand, being begged to do a sequel for such a long time, and then we finally came up with a concept that we liked, we talked to all the guys, and everyone was up for it. And then to get the reaction we got, yeah, it's slightly puzzling to us. But you know what? It's also their money. They get to do or not do whatever they want. So we’ll see. We’re still going back and forth. Maybe there is a solution. Or, I know in talking to Adam, if it never happens, then it never happens. And that's fine, too. So we’ll just see." A year later, in April 2011, Ferrell publicly stated that Paramount, which owns the rights to Anchorman, had decided against the idea of a sequel, stating "We've run the numbers and it's not a good fit." In March 2012, Paramount changed their minds and agreed to make a sequel; on March 28, 2012, Ferrell officially announced the film on Conan, in character as Ron Burgundy. In an interview in April 2012, McKay said that the script was a work in progress, and that the story might include a custody battle and bowling. In a May 2012 interview, he was quoted as saying that nothing was set.
In May 2012, Will Ferrell confirmed that script writing had begun and that filming would begin around February 2013. By June 2012, parts of the story had solidified, including a move of the location from San Diego to New York, and a focus on the onset of the cable news era in the 1980s.
Casting
In August 2012, Vince Vaughn confirmed that his character, Wes Mantooth, would appear in the film, and hinted at the possible appearance of Wes Mantooth's mother, Dorothy, who was mentioned in the first film. He expressed interest in Angela Lansbury playing the role. On December 19, 2012, it was announced that the film would be released on December 20, 2013. McKay confirmed in February 2013 that actress Kristen Wiig had joined the cast.Filming
Filming began in March 2013. On March 4, 2013, actor Harrison Ford was spotted on set with Will Ferrell. Some filming took place on St. Simons Island, Georgia starting on April 22, 2013, through May 8, 2013. Crews built a mock lighthouse and filmed a shark scene. Filming took place in Atlanta, substituting for New York City. Filming was scheduled for San Diego in the end of May 2013. There was a casting call in San Diego on May 11, 2013. Some shots were made at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey in May 2013.Soundtrack
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack of the film. It was released on December 17, 2013, by Republic Records.Release
On November 27, 2013, Paramount Pictures moved the release date up two days from December 20, 2013, to December 18, 2013. Paramount notified theater owners that Anchorman 2 would be their last film with a US release on 35mm film stock. According to the Los Angeles Times, the decision made Paramount the "first big studio" to stop releasing its major movies on film in the United States. On February 28, 2014, an R-rated version of the film titled, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues: Super-Sized R-Rated Version featuring "763 new jokes" was released in theaters for one week only.Marketing
On March 28, 2012, actor Will Ferrell officially announced the sequel dressed in character as Ron Burgundy on the late-night talk-show Conan. A teaser trailer was filmed approximately one week after Ferrell's announcement. The teaser trailer, featuring Ferrell, Rudd, Koechner, and Carell, premiered on May 16, 2012, in front of the movie The Dictator. An online version of the trailer premiered on May 21, 2012, on the website FunnyOrDie.com. A third teaser trailer was released on YouTube on May 18, 2013, with the film retitled as Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, adding the number 2 to the title. The first full theatrical trailer was released on June 19, 2013. A second trailer was released on October 23, 2013, and was attached to Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa.On June 5, 2013, the Newseum in Washington, D.C., in collaboration with Paramount, opened an exhibition relating to the sequel, including props from the movies. In October 2013, Chrysler Group LLC cross-promoted the film with a series of commercials featuring Ron Burgundy and the Dodge Durango. On October 22, 2013, it was announced Ben & Jerry's would be releasing a limited edition ice cream flavor in promotion of the film called Ron Burgundy's Scotchy Scotch Scotch. On November 19, 2013, an autobiographical book called Let Me Off at the Top!: My Classy Life and Other Musings was released under the Ron Burgundy moniker. Paramount Pictures launched the Anchorman 2: Scotchy Scotch Toss game for Apple mobile devices on November 25, 2013, and the Scotchy Scotch Toss game for Android devices on December 5, 2013.
As part of a product placement deal with the film, Miller Lite decided to reintroduce their original packaging on their 16-ounce cans for the duration of the film's theatrical release, as the original logo was contemporary with the setting of the film. The retro packaging on the Miller Lite cans proved to be so popular that by September 2014 Miller Brewing Company announced that it would switch back to the packaging full-time on all Miller Lite products.
On November 25, 2013, in Sydney, Australia, Ferrell joined the panel for a segment on the live Network Ten program The Project, reading some of the day's news and squaring off against veteran Australian news anchor Ray Martin. In a subsequent segment, Ferrell was joined by Carell, Rudd and Koechner to promote the film. On November 30, 2013, Ferrell co-anchored a newscast on Bismarck, North Dakota's CBS affiliate KXMB-TV in character as Ron Burgundy. The next day, he made a guest appearance on TSN's coverage of the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials from Winnipeg, Manitoba. On December 4, 2013, Emerson College named its School of Communication the "Ron Burgundy School of Communication" for a day. On December 4, 2013, it was announced that Ferrell was scheduled to appear on SportsCenter on December 5, 2013, in character as Ron Burgundy, but the appearance was cancelled in light of a news conference regarding sexual assault allegations against quarterback Jameis Winston.
On December 9, 2013, the European premiere was held in Ireland, at the Savoy Cinema, Dublin. The director and four main cast members were in attendance. On December 11, 2013, entertainment website IGN announced that Ron Burgundy would be a featured presenter on the site, with the site posting Burgundy-material everyday until December 18, 2013. On December 13, 2013, Ferrell, Carell, Rudd, and Koechner promoted the movie on The Late Late Show. On December 16, 2013, Ferrell appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman to promote the film. On December 19, 2013, Ferrell appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed "Ride Like the Wind" in character as Ron Burgundy with Christopher Cross.