Remember Anaconda? The half-decent ’90s monster movie starring Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, and Ice Cube. After a series of cheesy sequels that shut down theaters, the film returned to the big screen, but this new film starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd is the surprise of all people.
We first heard about the reboot back in the distant 2020, when I had just started writing the script for pay. Evan Dougherty (Snow White and the Huntsman) was writing the script, but the whole project went silent… until now.
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The Hollywood Reporter’s latest report on the series begins with the potential casting of Black and Ladd, but the most intriguing news comes right after: “Tom Gormican, director of Nicolas Cage’s The Unbearable Weight of Superstardom, will co-write the script with partner Kevin Eaton and will direct the film.”
While THR’s article suggests that the new version of Anaconda will include “meta elements,” Golmicken’s involvement is actually new information that makes me think Sony and Columbia are remaking the IP into a very different movie, an approach that turns Jumanji (a family-friendly movie with a sharp edge) into a more bland, more marketable movie that doesn’t feel like Jumanji fundamentalbut grossed over $1 billion worldwide and spawned a sequel that grossed approximately $800 million.
Mind you, Burden of Superstardom was a hit with critics and audiences alike, so it makes sense that an old, defunct franchise would be handed off to an offbeat filmmaker. That said, this sounds like something else entirely, and without a well-known title, this kind of pitch wouldn’t have happened. In an age of monster/kaiju movies that are big hits at the box office, it’s a little puzzling that this route was chosen instead of a straight update of Anaconda’s core premise.
According to THR’s own sources, “The new story follows a group of friends facing a mid-life crisis who are remaking their favorite movies from their youth.” So, this is the original Anaconda, right? “They head to the rainforest, only to find themselves having to contend with natural disasters, giant snakes, and violent criminals.” Perhaps a grittier movie than we thought, but this sounds like a good idea. a lot of
