When dealing with a film like Anchorman that has a cast capable of endless amounts of comedic gold, it’s likely that they’ll be a lot of laughs left behind. On the DVD of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy there was an entirely different film composed of what they didn’t use known as Wake Up, Ron Burgundy! It wasn’t a masterpiece or a fantastic film in any regard, but for something composed entirely of footage on the cutting room floor it was surprisingly hilarious. Relating to this, director Adam McKay has recently talked about the possibility of a second cut of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues with hopes to theatrically release it.
Adam McKay recently stopped by Empire to explain the two recently released trailers, including how they fit and ebb into the overall story of Anchorman 2. During the explanation, a query about the gay anchorman who the news team mistake for a vampire arises, causing Adam to divulge into how his scene was already cut from Anchorman 2. He goes on to say that the film is 1 hour 53 minutes, which is the longest they’ve ever done, but extensive cuts were still required. On that train of thought, Adam explains they have so much footage they could actually craft an alternate cut of Anchorman 2 with completely different jokes.
“We did so much improv on this one that we can literally replace every single joke in the movie and put in alt scenes and alt improv runs. I think the editor’s working on it right now, with 250 new jokes. I think it would be really funny to put it in theatres for midnight showings. I know that I personally, if I loved a movie and someone told me that, like if Airplane! had been released with all-new jokes, I’d be like, ‘you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!’ I’d see it in a second”
With the huge following Anchorman has a completely alternate cut would be incredibly well received. Surely this would mean ticket sales would sky rocket, which gives Paramount a pretty big incentive to release two versions of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. It’s unclear if the second cut will reach theatres but if not, it’s worth keeping an eye out for on the home-entertainment release of Anchorman 2 next year.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues sees the return of Will Ferrell (Ron Burgundy), Christina Applegate (Veronica Cornerstone), Steve Carrell (Brick Tamland), Paul Rudd (Brian Fantana), David Koechner (Champ Kind), Fred Willard (Ed Harken), Chris Parnell (Garth Holladay), Luke Wilson (Frank Vitchard), Vince Vaughn (Wes Mantooth) and Ben Stiller (Arturo Mendez) along with Harrison Ford (Ender’s Game), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Dylan Baker (Spider-Man 2), Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine), and Meagan Good (Think Like a Man). The film is set to open on December 20th.
Originally published October 26, 2013. Updated December 13, 2019.
