Remember Anaconda? That okay-ish creature feature from the ’90s starring Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, and Ice Cube? After a number of trashy sequels that skipped cinemas, the property is returning to the big screen, but this new take on it, likely led by Jack Black and Paul Rudd, isn’t what anyone was expecting.
We first heard about a reboot in the distant year of 2020, back when I was just starting to put words together in exchange for money. Evan Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman) was working on a script, but the entire project went silent… until now.
The Hollywood Reporter’s new report on the franchise refresh leads with Black and Rudd’s potential casting, but the most intriguing bit comes right afterwards: “Tom Gormican, who directed the Nicolas Cage meta movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, is co-writing with collaborator Kevin Etten and will direct the feature.”
While THR’s piece teases this new iteration of Anaconda will have a ‘meta element’ to it, Gormican’s involvement is actually the bit of new info that makes me think Sony and Columbia are reworking the IP into a very different kind of flick, the sort of approach that turned Jumanji (a family-friendly flick with some sharp edges) into something blander and easier to sell that didn’t feel like Jumanji at all, but made over $1 billion worldwide and spawned a sequel that grabbed around $800 million.
Mind you, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was a hit with critics and the people who watched it, so there’s sound logic in giving an off-beat filmmaker the keys to an old, theatrically deceased franchise. That said, this sounds like something else entirely, the sort of pitch that wouldn’t happen without a recognizable title attached to it. In an age of creature/monster features landing solid box office hauls, the decision to choose this route over a straightforward refresh of the core Anaconda premise is a bit of a head-scratcher.
According to THR’s own sources: “the new story involves a group of friends facing mid-life crises who are remaking their favorite movie from their youth.” So, that’s the original Anaconda, right? “They head to the rainforest, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against natural disasters, giant snakes and violent criminals.” Maybe it’s a harsher movie than we’re imagining, but that sounds a lot like another Sony Pictures joint that dabbles in a handful of genres without really committing to any.
