Will Ferrell's 'Anchorman 2' bumped up to Dec. 18 (Left to right) David Koechner is Champ Kind, Paul Rudd is Brian Fantana, Will Ferrell is Ron Burgundy and Steve Carell is Brick Tamland in "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Gemma LaMana / Paramount Pictures / November 1, 2013 November 27, 2013, 7:30 a.m. 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. "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.