A day after Adam McKay dropped some paternal plot hints concerning Anchorman 2, the director chatted with THR and gave plenty of updates on his developing sequel. First and foremost: The process in getting this funded sounds… arduous. You probably don’t need me to tell you this, but McKay says that, when on the cusp of moving forward with a Step Brothers follow-up (hinted at early last year in the form of a rap album), they made a last-ditch inquiry into Paramount’s interest.

When it turns out a comedy led by Ferrell and Vince Vaughn fell through, room for a similarly-budgeted, likelier hit, Anchorman 2, suddenly opened up. That’s just a condensed version of what went on behind the scenes — you can read more in the interview — so let’s get to the pending film itself.

It’s expected that production will begin in January or February of next year, though a release is still up in the air as of now. Paramount reportedly wants some time in the summer of 2014, but McKay feels as though any wait “gets a little long,” while Christmas of 2013 or the following March have also been thrown around. But, right now, such guesses are probably getting ahead of ourselves.

As was previously reported, the Channel 4 team’s male side — i.e., Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Steve Carell — are all expected to make a comeback — and, though not 100% confirmed as of this writing, McKay thinks Christina Applegate will be coming back, saying “it looks like there will be something for her.” Her involvement is pretty much mandatory if the custody battle plot line actually makes its way in, but the director cautioned that, right now, they’ve only got “a basic idea.” We only definitively know the period will adjust accordingly — placing this right in the ’80s — and that part of Anchorman 2‘s humor will stem from everyone’s aversion to change. So long as they don’t alter their own formula too much, this is one of the few developing sequels I’m fully anticipating.

What do you think of McKay’s intentions for Anchorman 2?

Source: ThePlaylist