The Staying Power of “Anchorman”: Celebrating 20 Years Of The Hit Comedy

When Anchorman came out around this time in 2004 (July 9th, 2004 to be specific), few could’ve anticipated what a splash it made. While it managed to gross $90 million dollars against a $26 million dollar budget, that was just the start of it. The critics were generally kind to the film, but its real journey took place once Ronnie Burgundy and friends opened the door.

Anchorman came around at the perfect time. It was a film - essentially - for the next generation of people who had watched Will Ferrell flourish on Saturday Night Live. As a result, as soon as the film hit the home media market, that’s where things started to really take off. You couldn’t walk through the halls of your school without hearing someone say that they love lamp or saying that San Diego means a whale’s vagina. It became the thing to talk about with your friends, and the movie to watch late on a Friday night when you were too young to really go out.

What’s remarkable isn’t just the legacy that Anchorman had. But rather, what the film managed to do for comedy.

Anytime you’ve got a hit film on your hands, those who made it can use it as a calling card for their next project. The year following Anchorman, Ferrell wound up starring in a lot of other people’s projects, including Kicking & Screaming, Bewitched, Wedding Crashers, and The Producers. During this time, Ferrell and Anchorman director Adam McKay were planning their next outing, 2006’s Talladega Nights.

Of course, this film also marked the directorial debut for McKay. In addition to Talladega Nights, he followed it up with comedies like Step Brothers and The Other Guys, before shifting to more dramatic films like The Big Short, Vice, and Don’t Look Up. His partnership with Ferrell as a producer also thrived during this era, up until they dissolved their partnership in 2019.

But perhaps most notably, the film served as a calling card for its producer, Judd Apatow.

Up to this point, Apatow had a string of beloved cult hits under his belt, having worked on The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Heavyweights, and The Cable Guy. While most of these projects were critically acclaimed - and even won Emmy awards - they did not light the world on fire financially. He became a thing of note in the comedy circles, but he still needed a mainstream commercial hit.

Anchorman was that hit. The success of Anchorman gave Apatow enough leverage to finally direct his own outing, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, which starred Anchorman star Steve Carrell. The film also featured Anchorman co-stars Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and even Seth Rogen, who has a small cameo in Anchorman. The 40 Year-Old Virgin was another runaway success. This lead to what can be categorized as the Apatow era of comedy.

Films like Superbad, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, Pineapple Express, Trainwreck, The Big Sick, Bros, and countless other Apatow joints can all be tied back to Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy and the channel four news team. But it also extends itself to stars from those who broke out from his camp, such as Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Amy Schumer, Pete Davidson, and countless others. That’s not to mention all of the Ferrell, McKay, and Carrell movies that have followed.

The fact that all of this rests on the shoulders of one single movie is an astonishing feat. It’s something unheard of in show business. So as important as it is to celebrate Anchorman on its own merit, let’s also be grateful for what it did for comedy.