Anchorman 2 Coming Back to Theaters Recut With 763 (or So) New Jokes—So Many Even Will Ferrell Lost Count!

"It's the same movie, it's 20 minutes longer, there's a musical number we had to cut from the original one—little treats like that," Ferrell tells Jimmy Fallon

By Bruna Nessif Feb 21, 2014 10:16 PMTags
Anchorman 2

Attention, everyone! Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, er, continues some more!

In what seems to be a very unusual ploy (and maybe the first time ever), Ron Burgundy and the news team from the comedy sequel will return to theaters for one week only with another (raunchier) version of the flick that features brand-new jokes—763 brand-new jokes, to be exact (although it seems like Ferrell may have lost track of the number).

Will Ferrell announced the big news during his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night, telling the host, "For one week only, Feb. 28., we have a brand-new version with 763 brand new jokes. We did alternate takes and originally the movie was four hours long and they played with the idea of splitting it into two movies but that didn't really work, so we just had a second editor working the whole time with alternative jokes."

Ferrell continued, "It's the same movie, it's 20 minutes longer, there's a musical number we had to cut from the original one—little treats like that."

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Director Adam McKay told The New York Times, "We started talking and realized, we can replace every single joke in the movie with another joke," adding, "there were a couple of jokes left for continuity."

With all of the alternate takes in their possession, McKay and Ferrell figured they would just add the footage to the DVD, but Paramount executives surprised them by insisting on a theatrical rerelease, mainly because it had never been done before. "It's crazy," he said. "Normally, you'd think I'd be the one asking for a new release."

The rerelease, officially called Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues: Super-Sized R-Rated Version (the original film was rated PG-13, will play in 1000 theaters.

"This is a stitched-up, Frankenstein version," McKay said. "You'll either love it or hate it."

Does this put you in a glass case of emotion? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

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