Anchorman (film series)


The Anchorman series is a series of three American comedy films – ', ', and . The films were produced by Judd Apatow, directed by Adam McKay, and written by McKay and Will Ferrell. The films star Ferrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Steve Carell, and Christina Applegate as Ron Burgundy, Brian Fantana, Champ Kind, Brick Tamland, and Veronica Corningstone, respectively. The films were distributed by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures.

Film series

''Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'' (2004)

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. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 66% based on 201 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. 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." Metacritic gave the film a score of 63 out of 100 based on 38 reviews.

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

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".
Unlike the other films in the Anchorman series, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy was released straight-to-video bundled with the home release of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Wake Up, Ron Burgundy is composed of outtakes from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

''Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues'' (2013)

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. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 74% approval rating with an average rating of 6.4/10 based on 199 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." On Metacritic, it holds a score of 61 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

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." 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."
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."
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."
In 2018, McKay offered an idea of sending Ron Burgundy to cover the first or second Iraq War. In an interview with CinemaBlend, McKay said "I don't know if you remember the first and even the second Iraq war. Maybe it was mainly the second Iraq war. They embedded journalists and that gave us kind of a whole story idea... I don't want to say too much, but I'll just tell you that embedded journalist, Ron Burgundy, Veronica Corningstone, the news team. That definitely gave us a big idea." In that same year, Steve Carell stated he would reprise his role of Brick Tamland if a third film was made.

Appearances in other media