‘Anchorman 2’: Adam McKay Planning Alternate Version Of The Sequel

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues director Adam McKay is teasing an alternate version of the long-awaited sequel to his 2004 comedy.

Since the director and his cast often improvise a lot of the jokes you see in the final cut, there’s quite a bit of material that ends up on the editing room floor. McKay recently told the folks at Empire magazine that he wants to give fans a different version of the final cut.

According to Cinema Blend, Adam McKay envisions the alternate version of Anchorman 2 as a midnight movie. However, there’s always a chance the flick could find its way onto Blu-ray down the road.

Here’s what the director said about the alternate cut:

“We did so much improv on this one that we can literally replace every single joke in the movie and put in alt scenes and alt improv runs. I think the editor’s working on it right now, with 250 new jokes. I think it would be really funny to put it in theaters for midnight showings. I know that I personally, if I loved a movie and someone told me that, like if ‘Airplane!’ had been released with all-new jokes, I’d be like, ‘you’ve got to be f***ing kidding me!’ I’d see it in a second.”

This isn’t the first time Adam McKay put together another movie using alternate or deleted scenes. Fans who splurged on the special edition DVD of the original Anchorman received Wake Up Ron Burgundy, a flick which puts this excess footage to very good use.

However, the alternate cut of Anchorman 2 will actually have the same plot as the theatrical version of the sequel. The story might be the same, but the jokes are a little different.

Not up-to-date about the highly-anticipated follow-up? Here’s the official synopsis:

“With the 70’s behind him, San Diego’s top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), returns to the news desk in ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.’ Also back for more are Ron’s co-anchor and wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), weather man Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), man on the street Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner) — All of whom won’t make it easy to stay classy… while taking the nation’s first 24-hour news channel by storm.”

Check out the latest trailer for the flick below.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues arrives in theaters on December 20. It’s unclear when the director will unleash the alternate version of the comedy onto the masses.

[Image via Paramount Pictures]