'Anchorman' Sequel: A $50 Million Compromise

6:00 AM PDT 4/10/2012 by Jay A. Fernandez

Writer-director Adam McKay reveals what it took to bring Will Ferrell back to classy San Diego.

That Paramount finally decided March 29 to make an Anchorman sequel was as much a surprise to Will Ferrell and Adam McKay as anyone. After all, the collaborators had been trying for years to revive Ron Burgundy, and only three months earlier the possibility had been "really 100 percent dead," according to McKay. The studio had refused to budge from a $35 million budget limit. But that number wouldn't have covered even a few of the above-the-line salaries: Ferrell's ask can reach $20 million, and several of the secondary Anchorman players, including Paul Rudd and Steve Carell (now up to $12 million-plus), have since blown up.