Watch: Paul Rudd & Jack Black Reboot 'Anaconda' With A Super Meta Spin On The 1997 Classic, Plus Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, & Steve Zahn
If you're a 90s kid like me, there's a good chance 'Anaconda' was the first R-Rated movie you ever saw. Super dumb but super fun cinematic experience.
Outrageous premise, dogshit acting, barely acceptable CGI snake, 28 year old Jennifer Lopez with Ice Cube & Owen Wilson...
And lest we forget Jon Voight doing the worst/most unintelligible accent in Hollywood history...
But don't get it twisted, because in this case those aspects are NOT negatives. When it's all put together, somehow that movie becomes a fucking hoot! And the epitome of a perfect rainy weekend watch when it's on TNT. We used to get so many of these 90 minute schlock stories back in the day. Now? Not so much. If it's not a comic book movie or something directed by Christopher Nolan, it's not getting made.
UNTIL NOW…
(Deadline) - The film follows Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd), who have been best friends since they were kids, and have always dreamed of remaking their all-time favorite movie: the cinematic “classic” Anaconda. When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they head deep into the Amazon to start filming. But things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation. The movie they’re dying to make? It might just get them killed.
The original 1997 Anaconda starred Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Owen Wilson, and Ice Cube and followed a National Geographic-esque film crew that is taken hostage by an insane hunter, who forces them along on his quest to capture the world’s largest and deadliest snake, an anaconda. The movie grossed $65.9M domestic off a $16.6M opening and went on to make $136.9M worldwide. The movie was an early box office win for Lopez and Cube.
Never knew that the OG Anaconda made that much at the box office, and that's just from a $45 million budget! Also let's be grateful for it helping launch JLo into the stratosphere. If they never put that giant snake on the silver screen, do we ever get those all-time outfits from her?
Let's have a quick moment of gratitude before getting into this reboot.
Bob Riha Jr. Getty Images.
Bob Riha Jr. Getty Images.
Scott Gries. Getty Images.
Dave Hogan. Getty Images.
Dave Hogan. Getty Images.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto. Getty Images.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto. Getty Images.Okay now back to this new reboot… I actually love the concept here. Lean heavily into the absurd meta aspect, retread some familiar story beats, but then take it to a whole new place. You know Paul Rudd & Jack Black are gonna deliver a great time, Steve Zahn is one of the funniest/most underrated actors of his generation, and then you got Thandiwe Newton & Daniela Melchior uniting to give us some 1997 JLo flair.
This could be just the right balance of fun and dumb… I see the vision.
If it's getting a Christmas Day release this year then the studio must be pretty proud of it? Hopefully it ends up being chock full of Tayne too, we need so much more Tayne.
I'd settle for some Celery Man though.
