 This film had been pitched to DreamWorks nearly 20 times before,  following the successes of "Old School" and "Elf". DreamWorks had  little faith in the film, doubting Ferrell and McKay were able to  pull off an entire film based on news anchors. Despite the doubts  the film would bomb, it grossed $84 million domestically and the  director had so much extra footage they were able to make a second  film out of it.