Will Ferrell’s ‘Anchorman 2’ bumped up to Dec. 18

Ron Burgundy wants us to stay classy -- and wants himself to be early. “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,� the sequel to the comedy hit of about a decade ago, will have its release date moved up two days to Dec. 18, Paramount Pictures said Tuesday.

The Will Ferrell film looks to get a jump on a crowded Christmas that will see a bevy of new releases, such as Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,� and presumably strong holdovers, such as “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.� The film now hits on a Wednesday, several days before the traditionally busy pre-Christmas weekend.

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“Anchorman,� which picks up as Burgundy and the gang travel to New York to join a nascent cable news channel, has been nearly omnipresent lately, with Burgundy-based ads being used to hawk everything from underwear to cars.

Whether audiences will respond to the sequel as they did to the original, directed by Adam McKay and co-starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, remains to be seen.

The first film was a slow-burn hit, gaining traction first at the box office and later on DVD and cable.

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