Anchorman 2 Much Closer To Happening Than Previously Thought

There has been  a lot of talk over the years about the potential for Anchorman 2. It has often seemed like something that would never happen, despite the fact that most of the players involved in the first film all appear game to do it again. Now director Adam McKay says it's really about Paramount writing a a check. If the studio did that, they'd be ready to go.

MTV talked to McKay and while the site didn't get any info about him doing The Boys (or hasn't published it yet) they did get some informative words about Anchorman 2.

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 [the sequel], which you don't see very often in Hollywood — and cut their price substantially. But even with that, it's just a budgetary thing with Paramount in terms of how much they'll give us to make it. We had an idea and we contacted Steve and Paul and [David] Koechner and Christina [Applegate] and checked in with everyone and they were all game for it. The stage we're at now is talking to Paramount and trying to get the money to do it.

The hope is that, while the first movie didn't make buckets of money, the studio might see the potential in a sequel now that the original is recognized as a favorite on DVD.

If Paramount does fork over some money, the idea is to finish a script this year and be ready to shoot by February 2011. The story as it currently stands would be set in the '80s, but there are other ideas at play: "[The '80s angle is] more the frame of it," says McKay. "We have this other, bigger, crazier idea that's really more what it's about, which I can't say."

Note that this is still all a possibility, nothing more. But if money does materialize it could go forward. (Part of the process to get the money is talking about the film this way, which generates articles that generate a response Paramount can measure.)