Ferrell has everyone laughing

“Anchorman” is the kind of movie every studio craves: A low-budget comedy that even in “Spider-Man 2’s” giant shadow still grossed more than $28 million in its first weekend. And yet just over a year ago DreamWorks nearly let the Will Ferrell movie slip away.

The studio’s wavering is less a testament to Hollywood’s chronic indecision than it is evidence of Ferrell’s remarkably rapid ascension. In only 17 months since last year’s “Old School,” Ferrell has rocketed from bit-part scene stealer to movie superstar, attracting enough starring roles to keep him in front of cameras through the end of next summer. All told, the “Saturday Night Live” alumnus will appear in three more films before year’s end and will star in another three next year.

Ferrell, 36, is clearly adored by moviegoers, but he attracts particular worship from studio executives: Although he’s no longer a bargain, his films still are, costing a fraction of what’s allocated on special effects-laden action blockbusters. Last December’s “Elf” cost only $33 million but grossed more than $173 million domestically.

Ferrell’s current $20-million asking price is, in fact, $5 million less than what Warner Bros. spent relocating its “Troy” production from Europe to Baja California. And “Anchorman,” carrying a budget of around $25 million, cost about a quarter of “King Arthur,” a film that it is trouncing at the box office.

“Comedies have always been a low-risk business for studios,” says Todd Phillips, who directed and co-wrote Ferrell’s break-out hit “Old School.” “As much as I’d like to say comedies hinge on writers and directors, it’s very much a star-driven business.”

Finding those stars has proved difficult recently. The older generation of comic giants, whose members include Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy, no longer generate moviegoer swarms, and current comedy kings Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler have eclectic tastes, sometimes picking complex (and not wildly commercial) dramas like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Punch-Drunk Love.” Newcomers Jack Black and Owen Wilson have yet to prove they single-handedly can open a movie.

Outside of Ben Stiller, Ferrell is one of the few comedians who can reliably deliver an audience, even when his film’s reviews aren’t that strong.

“It’s rare that you have a guy where you throw him on a poster and immediately you’re opening at over $25 million. There’s security in that,” says Adam McKay, a longtime Ferrell “Saturday Night Live” collaborator who directed and co-wrote “Anchorman.”

“Will has universal appeal in the truest and broadest sense -- kids, teens and adults,” says Mary Parent, vice chairman of worldwide production for Universal Pictures. “I think we have yet to see what Will can really do. He’s not just a funny guy; he’s a real actor.”

Universal will release three Will Ferrell movies before the end of next year: A movie version of the Broadway hit “The Producers” (in which Ferrell will play Franz Liebkind), an animated version of “Curious George” (Ferrell is voicing the Man in the Yellow Hat) and the soccer dad comedy “Kicking and Screaming.”

Other future roles include playing Darrin Stephens opposite Nicole Kidman in “Bewitched” and the stock car comedy “Talladega Nights.” Both are slated to be summer movies from Columbia Pictures, which shows how confident the studio is in Ferrell’s ability to excite audiences in the most competitive moviegoing season, says Doug Belgrad, Columbia’s co-president of production.

Says Lucy Fisher, who is producing “Bewitched” with her husband, Doug Wick: “No one knows how far his talent goes.”

The current Ferrell stampede belies Hollywood’s indifference less than two years ago, despite Ferrell’s popular “Saturday Night Live” skits, highlighted by his impersonation of President Bush. Several years ago, Paramount Pictures toyed with a Ferrell comedy called “August Blowout,” about an Orange County car salesman, but the studio never made the movie.

“I don’t think any studio believed he could be a lead,” McKay says. “It was impossible! The only place that showed any interest was DreamWorks.”

All the same, DreamWorks, which also made “Old School,” almost lost “Anchorman,” a comedy about a 1970s San Diego television news team. The studio initially wavered in starting the movie, and the “Anchorman” filmmakers exercised a contract clause to shop the project to other studios, according to people familiar with the deal. But not a single studio would commit to financing “Anchorman,” even as its budget was lowered to a paltry $12 million in an attempt to make the film more attractive.

DreamWorks changed its course as soon as “Old School” came out last February, when it grossed $17.5 million in its first weekend. The studio’s waffling did mean, however, that it had to pay a higher price to close Ferrell’s deal, according to people familiar with the pact.

“Some people just didn’t know who he was,” McKay says of Ferrell’s show business profile not that long ago. “One of the studio people told me to call the marketing people, and they said they basically couldn’t market a Will Ferrell movie. So I called this guy from the marketing department, who shall go nameless, and talked to him for 45 minutes trying to convince him that Will Ferrell is the funniest guy you’re ever going to see and that ‘Anchorman’ was going to work. And it was quite apparent he didn’t have any idea who Will was.”

One of the town’s most daring studios, New Line Cinema, agreed to make “Elf” before “Old School” premiered, but nevertheless did so with fingers crossed. “They thought they were doing us a favor by greenlighting it with Will,” says Jon Favreau, who directed the Christmas comedy. “They were taking a big chance at the time.”

The gamble paid off, as “Elf” opened last November with ticket sales of $31.1 million and ultimately surpassed “The Matrix Revolutions,” which opened the same weekend.

The industry’s initial skepticism over Ferrell makes more sense if you recall the inconsistent history of TV comedians jumping into movies. Although “Saturday Night Live” produced comedy legends Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Mike Myers, it also yielded film washouts Chris Kattan and Molly Shannon.

People who have worked with Ferrell said his movie charisma was unmistakable -- it simply took Hollywood a while to notice.

“Will has this magical quality about him that audiences -- whether it’s in the movies or real life -- are rooting for him,” says filmmaker Phillips. “It happens to some actors, [and] it doesn’t happen to most of them. Will Ferrell makes you love George Bush. People who don’t like George Bush really don’t like George Bush, right? Let’s say I’m one of those people. But I love George Bush when Will does him. I think George Bush should hire Will to give his speeches at press conferences.”

Audiences, filmmakers and studio executives also know that when Ferrell stars in a movie, he brings many of his funny friends along. Ferrell’s movies feature cameos from Vince Vaughn, Stiller, Black and Luke and Owen Wilson. Ferrell also pops up in other people’s movies: He has a small part in “The Wedding Crashers,” a Vaughn-Owen Wilson movie due out next year.

“Will has come through for a lot of these guys before,” says Judd Apatow, who produced “Anchorman.” “So when Will got his shot, they were happy to support him.”

Like any good comic, Ferrell couldn’t have better timing. His profile has risen so fast that there was a bidding war last month for “Talladega Nights,” a far cry from the cold reception Ferrell’s “Anchorman” got longer than a year ago. “We were determined to have it,” says Matt Tolmach, Columbia’s other co-president of production, whose studio won the bidding war.

“People are going to the movies to escape,” says “Elf” director Favreau. “They really want to laugh right now and be taken on a journey. So the popular movies are the ones that are either really silly or take you on a mental vacation in fantasy.

“Audiences want to see what he has to say. But it’s completely a function of performance. He was just as sincere in his efforts and just as funny [earlier in his career]. But until it made sense from a business standpoint, there wasn’t that degree of enthusiasm. It all comes from success.”

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John Horn is a Times staff writer and Chris Lee is a correspondent.