The Insider.com

While fans of the cult-classic comedy, Anchorman, have long considered making a sequel to be a no-brainer, writer/director Adam McKay reveals the struggle to convince the powers that be.

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In speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Adam stated that it all came down to a matter of dollars and cents.

"They kept saying, 'We'll give you $35 million,'" said Adam. "And we're like, 'Wait a minute, if we do it for that, we're literally not getting paid!'"

Having made many failed attempts at getting a bigger budget, Adam and Will Ferrell were set to start working on Step Brothers 2, but at the last minute they put in one last call to an executive at Paramount, who OK'd the Anchorman 2 project.

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The two sides compromised and are now making the movie for $50 million and a little something extra, in the event that the movie performs well.

"We came up with a -- we're not going to get rich -- but a fair little back end sweetener on it," said Adam.

Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner are all expected to return to for the second installment. Adam's even working on confirming Christina Applegate.

"I'm actually calling [Christina] Applegate's manager, but we already have talked about the story and it looks like there will be something for her."