First the bad news: Anchorman 2, the follow-up to Will Ferrell’s 2004 hit about self-absorbed news anchor Ron Burgundy, is not getting made.

Now the worse news: The sequel, if it had happened, was going to be a musical that opened first on Broadway before traveling via Hollywood to the silver screen.

Adam McKay, the director of the original and the man who tried (and failed) to get the sequel off the ground, has confirmed to CHUD.com that wild and crazy plans were in the works for a singing and dancing follow-up to the comedy smash.

“It was a musical,” he says “We were going to do four months on Broadway and then jump right into filming.”

The director says that Paramount uses advanced “computer modeling” to determine (i.e. guess) future profits on its movies and determined that an Anchorman 2 wasn’t likely to recoup the $60 million it would cost to make.

So the project is dead and will never be, though McKay doesn’t seem too upset. “There’s no hard feelings,” he says. “We have some cool projects set up at Paramount.”

Even so, the very idea of Anchorman stars Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd and Christina Applegate sharing a Broadway stage is enough to set the hearts of comedy fans fluttering. It could still happen. Right? RIGHT???

Not likely. “We’ve moved on,” says McKay. “We tried. But it’s too hard on the actors. And there’s no money for them.”

Maybe they will at least release a single called Stay Classy San Diego. It’ll be a hit.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation