Gary Sanchez Productions
Gary Sanchez Productions was an American film and television production company founded in 2006 by comedian and actor Will Ferrell, filmmaker Adam McKay, and producer Chris Henchy.[1][2] Named after a fictional Paraguayan entrepreneur and financier, the company focused on comedy and satirical content, producing films such as Step Brothers (2008), The Other Guys (2010), and Vice (2018).[3][4] Its theatrical releases distributed by Paramount Pictures collectively grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide, highlighting its commercial success in the comedy genre.[5] In addition to feature films, Gary Sanchez backed television series like Eastbound & Down and contributed to projects including Succession. The founding partners' professional relationship concluded in 2019 with the amicable dissolution of the company, after which McKay established Hyperobject Industries and Ferrell continued under other banners.[4][2]Founding and Structure
Establishment and Naming
Gary Sanchez Productions was founded in 2006 by actors and filmmakers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay as a vehicle for developing and producing comedy-focused feature films and television projects.[6][7] The company's name derives from a pseudonym that Ferrell entered into his BlackBerry contact list; McKay later recounted on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast that the pair, drawing on improvisational comedy techniques, elaborated this into the persona of a fictional Paraguayan entrepreneur and financier supposedly known to them.[8][9] This whimsical origin reflected the founders' humorous approach, distinguishing the entity from conventional production banners.[10]Key Personnel and Organization
Gary Sanchez Productions was founded in 2006 by comedians and filmmakers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, who operated the company as its primary executives and producers.[1] The name derives from a fictional Paraguayan entrepreneur and financier created as an inside joke by the founders, rather than any real individual involved in the operations.[3] Ferrell, known for starring roles in the company's output, and McKay, who frequently directed projects, collaborated closely on creative and business decisions throughout the entity's existence.[4] As a limited liability company (LLC) headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the organization maintained a compact structure suited to independent film and television production, with an estimated staff of around 7 to 10 core employees focused on development, administration, and production support.[11] Key supporting roles included assistants to the principals, such as Ayanna Frey, who served as assistant to the president, and development staff handling script evaluation and deal negotiations.[12] This lean model allowed Ferrell and McKay to retain direct control, enabling agile responses to project opportunities while partnering with larger studios for distribution and financing.[13] The company's dissolution in 2019 stemmed from the founders' decision to pursue separate ventures, announced as amicable but later attributed by Ferrell to bandwidth constraints amid diverging professional priorities.[4][14]Historical Development
Early Comedy Focus (2006–2010)
Gary Sanchez Productions was established in 2006 by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, with an initial emphasis on developing and producing comedy films in a relaxed, creative setting unbound by traditional studio constraints.[1] The company operated from a small bungalow office in Los Angeles, supported by a core team that included producer Chris Henchy and coordinator Jessica Elbaum, focusing on collaborations with emerging comedic talent.[1] The firm's early output centered on low-budget comedies, beginning with The Foot Fist Way (produced in 2006 and released in 2008), a mockumentary about a hapless taekwondo instructor that marked an early success in spotlighting Danny McBride.[1] This was followed by the higher-profile Step Brothers (2008), directed by McKay and starring Ferrell and John C. Reilly as adult stepbrothers forced into cohabitation, co-produced with Apatow Productions, Mosaic Media Group, Relativity Media, and Columbia Pictures.[15] The film exemplified the company's signature style of absurd, R-rated humor targeting immature male protagonists. By 2009–2010, Gary Sanchez expanded its slate with The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009), a satirical take on used-car salesmen starring Jeremy Piven, and The Other Guys (2010), an action-comedy directed by McKay featuring Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as desk-bound detectives thrust into fieldwork, co-produced with Columbia Pictures and Mosaic Media Group.[16] These releases reinforced the production house's niche in broad-appeal comedies, often blending slapstick with satirical elements drawn from Ferrell and McKay's Saturday Night Live roots.[1]Expansion into Broader Genres (2010–2015)
During the early 2010s, Gary Sanchez Productions began diversifying its output from its initial focus on broad comedies, incorporating action and satirical elements while maintaining ties to its founders' comedic sensibilities. In 2010, the company co-produced The Other Guys, an action-comedy directed by Adam McKay and starring Will Ferrell alongside Mark Wahlberg as mismatched detectives; the film blended buddy-cop tropes with Ferrell's improvisational humor, earning $170.9 million worldwide on a budget estimated at $85–100 million. This project marked an early step into action-oriented narratives, appealing to a wider audience than pure sketch-based comedy. Similarly, The Campaign (2012), a political satire directed by Jay Roach and featuring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as rival congressional candidates, satirized American electioneering with exaggerated character work, grossing $104.7 million globally. By mid-decade, Gary Sanchez Productions ventured further into non-comedic genres, producing Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters in 2013, a fantasy-action film directed by Tommy Wirkola and starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton; this adaptation reimagined the fairy tale as a violent, effects-driven hunt for witches, diverging from the company's comedy roots and achieving $226.3 million in worldwide box office receipts. In 2014, the company backed Welcome to Me, an indie dramedy directed by Shira Piven and starring Kristen Wiig as a woman with borderline personality disorder who uses lottery winnings to launch a self-indulgent talk show; the film explored themes of mental illness and narcissism with a mix of pathos and absurdity, receiving praise for Wiig's performance despite modest commercial returns of under $500,000 domestically.[1] A notable departure came in 2015 with A Deadly Adoption, a Lifetime television movie directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg and starring Ferrell and Wiig as a couple entangled in a perilous adoption; presented as a straight dramatic thriller rather than overt parody, it featured tense confrontations and peril without the founders' typical comedic flourishes, signaling an experimental push into suspenseful storytelling.[17][18] These projects reflected Gary Sanchez's strategy to leverage its creative network for genre experimentation, often co-producing with studios like Paramount, while balancing riskier indies against commercial comedies such as Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013).[1]Political Turn and Internal Shifts (2015–2019)
During this period, co-founder Adam McKay directed The Big Short (2015), a film produced by Gary Sanchez Productions that satirized the 2008 financial crisis and critiqued Wall Street practices and regulatory failures. McKay later explained his departure from broad comedies as a response to societal upheavals, including the financial crisis itself, climate change, and the perceived rise of right-wing extremism, which he argued diminished the relevance of humor targeting "empty-suit white guys." This project earned McKay an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and signaled a pivot toward issue-driven narratives blending drama and political commentary.[19] The company's involvement extended to McKay's Vice (2018), a biographical film on Dick Cheney that portrayed the former vice president's influence on U.S. foreign policy and executive power expansion post-9/11, earning eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for McKay. These productions reflected McKay's growing emphasis on politically themed content, diverging from the outfit's earlier comedy-centric output. Meanwhile, Will Ferrell starred in and produced lighter fare such as Holmes & Watson (2018), maintaining a focus on humorous genres.[4] Internal dynamics strained as McKay's team pursued dramatic, prestige-oriented projects while Ferrell's prioritized comedy, leading to the formation of competing factions within the company. McKay's resignation from the related Funny or Die venture in 2018 over a corporate sponsorship deal with Shell Oil underscored his evolving priorities toward activism-adjacent stances. By early 2019, these creative divergences prompted discussions of restructuring, with Ferrell and McKay publicly describing their paths as having "naturally evolved in different directions." The partnership's dissolution followed in April 2019, though both affirmed ongoing personal friendship at the time.[6][20]Dissolution in 2019
On April 8, 2019, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay announced the dissolution of their production partnership at Gary Sanchez Productions after 13 years of collaboration.[21][4] The decision was described as amicable, with both principals stating they would pursue independent projects while completing all existing commitments under the Gary Sanchez and affiliated Gloria Sanchez banners.[4][22] The split stemmed from diverging creative visions, as Ferrell later explained that their priorities for the company's direction had grown apart, limiting bandwidth for joint ventures.[14] McKay's increasing focus on politically oriented documentaries and films, such as Vice (2018), contrasted with Ferrell's preference for maintaining a core emphasis on broad comedy, contributing to the impasse.[14] Subsequent disclosures in 2021 revealed additional tensions, including a dispute over McKay's decision to recast Ferrell from the role of Jerry Buss in HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which McKay cited as exacerbating personal and professional rifts beyond initial business differences.[23][24] Following the dissolution, McKay established Hyperobject Industries to helm his slate of projects, while Ferrell reorganized Gloria Sanchez Productions as his primary entity, absorbing ongoing developments like Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020).[14] No new productions were initiated under the Gary Sanchez name post-announcement, marking the effective end of the joint venture.[21]Productions
Feature Films
Gary Sanchez Productions produced a series of feature films, predominantly comedies, from 2008 to 2020, often featuring collaborations with talents associated with founders Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.[25] Early outputs emphasized broad-appeal humor, such as Step Brothers (2008), which grossed $128.1 million worldwide on a $65 million budget.[25] Subsequent projects expanded into action-comedy hybrids like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) and politically themed dramas including Vice (2018), reflecting the company's evolving slate before its 2019 dissolution.[25] [21] The following table summarizes key feature films produced by the company, including release dates, production budgets where reported, and worldwide box office performance:| Title | Release Date | Production Budget | Worldwide Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step Brothers | Jul 25, 2008 | $65,000,000 | $128,107,642 |
| The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard | Aug 14, 2009 | $10,000,000 | $15,297,318 |
| The Other Guys | Aug 6, 2010 | $100,000,000 | $170,936,470 |
| The Virginity Hit | Sep 24, 2010 | $2,000,000 | $636,706 |
| Casa de mi Padre | Mar 16, 2012 | $6,000,000 | $8,446,952 |
| The Campaign | Aug 10, 2012 | $95,000,000 | $104,907,746 |
| Bachelorette | Sep 7, 2012 | $3,000,000 | $12,577,401 |
| Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters | Jan 25, 2013 | $50,000,000 | $214,949,716 |
| Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues | Dec 18, 2013 | $50,000,000 | $172,246,223 |
| Tammy | Jul 2, 2014 | $20,000,000 | $96,407,655 |
| Get Hard | Mar 27, 2015 | $40,000,000 | $111,811,453 |
| Welcome to Me | May 1, 2015 | Not reported | $629,886 |
| Daddy’s Home | Dec 25, 2015 | $50,000,000 | $241,504,989 |
| The Boss | Apr 8, 2016 | $29,000,000 | $78,652,207 |
| The House | Jun 30, 2017 | $40,000,000 | $34,284,504 |
| Daddy’s Home 2 | Nov 10, 2017 | $70,000,000 | $180,800,776 |
| Holmes & Watson | Dec 25, 2018 | $42,000,000 | $41,926,605 |
| Vice | Dec 25, 2018 | $60,000,000 | $70,893,782 |
| Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga | Jun 26, 2020 | Not reported | Not reported |