Jack Black and Paul Rudd are headed into the Amazon. The pair are reportedly in talks to star together in a reboot of Anaconda, with Tom Gormican (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) set to direct from a script he is co-writing with collaborator Kevin Etten.
The original Anaconda was released in 1997 and directed by Luis Llosa from a script by Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, and Jack Epps Jr. The film followed a film crew from National Geographic as they went in search of the anaconda —believed to be the world’s biggest, and deadliest, snake —only to find themselves the ones hunted by the vicious, massive snake. The main cast members were Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight.
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Anaconda was not a massive box office success but went on to become a cult classic that spawned a franchise consisting of one theatrical stand-alone sequel, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) and three television sequels, Anaconda 3: Offspring (2008), Anacondas: Trail of Blood (2009), and Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015), which was a crossover with the Lake Placid film series. There was also a 2024 Chinese remake of the same name, Anaconda (2024) directed by Xiang Qui Liang and Xiang He Sheng.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, sources say the plot of the new film “involves a group of friends facing mid-life crises who are remaking their favorite movie from their youth. They head to the rainforest, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against natural disasters, giant snakes, and violent criminals.”
One source has said that Black may be portraying “an erstwhile director, a man stuck in his job as a wedding videographer,” while Rudd plays “an actor who did a stint on a cop show but sees his Hollywood dreams slipping further and further away.” However, a separate source stated that it’s actually the other way around.
THR noted that this project has been in development at Columbia Pictures since early last year, but it’s undergone a number of rewrites as Gormican and Etten worked with Columbia to find the best tonal balance.
