10 Behind-The-Scenes Dramas That Failed To Derail Famous Movies
4. Test Audiences Hated Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy So Much They Ended Up Saving It
Anchorman is one of the most quotable comedies ever made, and launched the careers of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay to unbelievable heights, but originally... the movie was awful.
Test audiences hated it - with a lengthy subplot about a group of extremists called 'The Alarm Clock' being a particular sticking point - resulting in the studio forcing McKay to re-evaluate his approach.
This led to a massive amount of reshooting and rewriting, with McKay removing the extremist subplot from the film entirely. This changed everything; almost half of the film was remade from scratch, and this is the final version that was released in cinemas in 2004.
And, of course, everybody loved it. The film that Anchorman ended up being is virtually unrecognisable when compared to the film that it very nearly was, and there were so many scenes cut that they made a direct-to-DVD movie - Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie - out of everything on the cutting room floor.
Test audiences saved the day, and we have that select group of people to thank for helping shape one of the funniest comedies of this century.