Anchorman (film series)

Anchorman
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Adam McKay
Produced by	Judd Apatow Will Ferrell Adam McKay
Written by	Will Ferrell Adam McKay
Starring	Will Ferrell Christina Applegate Paul Rudd Steve Carell David Koechner Fred Willard
Music by	Alex Wurman (1, 1½) Andrew Feltenstein (2) John Nau (2)
Distributed by	DreamWorks Pictures Paramount Pictures
Release dates	2004–2013
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$76,000,000
Box office	$264.2 million +

The Anchorman series is a series of three American comedy films – Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). The films were directed by Adam McKay; produced, written by and starring Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy; and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures.

Film series

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Main article: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Ron Burgundy is San Diego's top rated newsman in the male-dominated broadcasting of the '70s, but that's all about to change for Ron and his cronies when an ambitious woman is hired as a new anchor.

The film grossed $85,288,303 in North America, and $5,285,885 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $90,574,188.^[1] It received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 66% based on 197 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's consensus reads: "Filled with inspired silliness and quotable lines, Anchorman isn't the most consistent comedy in the world, but Will Ferrell's buffoonish central performance helps keep this portrait of a clueless newsman from going off the rails."^[2] Another review aggregation website Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 63 based on 38 reviews.^[3]

Anchorman: Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004)

Main article: Anchorman: Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie

Set during Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Anchorman: Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie follows the KVWN Channel 4 News Team as they investigate the extremist bank-robbing organization "The Alarm Clock"."^[4]

It was filmed alongside Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, composed of scenes cut from that film.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Main article: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

With the 70s behind him, San Diego's top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy, returns to take New York's first 24-hour news channel by storm with the help of his best friends.

The film grossed $127.4 million in North America, and $45.6 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $173.0 million.^[5] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 75% approval rating with an average rating of 6.4/10 based on 183 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "It's just as uneven and loosely structured as the first Anchorman -- and while Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues may not be quite as quotable, it's nearly as funny as its predecessor."^[6] On Metacritic, it holds a score of 61/100 indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 40 critics.^[7]

Cast and characters

Crew

Reception

Box office performance

Critical reception

Future

On November 13, 2013, Will Ferrell spoke about the possibility of a third main Anchorman film stating: "I'm sure they would, But I don't know. We just want to see what happens with this one and we'll sit down and assess all of that. Right now, we're just enjoying this journey."^[13] On December 9, 2013, Steve Carell said "We'll see how this one goes," and "If people like it, maybe 10 years from now we'll do a third."^[14]

Director Adam McKay spoke to Empire in February 2014, and ruled out any further Anchorman movies saying "It's done. I think that's it. It was great to do it and it was so fun to work with those guys again, but I think that's it for Ron Burgundy." and when asked if he would do sequels with any character he said "No, that's the last sequel we're gonna do. There’s nothing more fun to me than new characters and a new world. And now we're releasing this alt version, we're totally satisfied. No Anchorman 3."^[15]

However, on April 2, 2014, Adam McKay stated that Anchorman 3 could still be a possibility, which went against his previous statement. In an interview with Time, he stated "I said about a month ago that we'd never do a third one, and I realized that was a little too harsh because the truth is, I really don’t know. With these movies, you really don't know how they've played until about two years after they come out, when people see them on repeat viewing." He then also went on to state that "If Anchorman 2 gets that sort of second life, if three, four years from now people start asking us that question a lot and there's an idea, we would be open to that."^[16]

Appearances in other media

• Will Ferrell officially announced Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues dressed in character as Ron Burgundy on the late-night talk-show Conan.^[17] Ferrell would eventually appear as Burgundy in an interview to promote the sequel.^[18]
• On December 19, 2013, Ferrell appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed "Ride Like the Wind" in character as Ron Burgundy with Christopher Cross.^[19]

References

External links

• AnchormanMovie.com - Official Website
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy at the Internet Movie Database
• Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues at the Internet Movie Database