Columbia Pictures is planning to squeeze new life out of the Anaconda franchise, with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent director Tom Gormican set to helm a reimagining of the 1997 giant snake horror movie.
Tom Gormican will also co-write the project with Kevin Etten.
The project is said to have been in development at the studio since early 2023, and has gone through numerous rewrites as the "filmmaker and Columbia tried to find the right balance of tones."
It sounds like this new take on the creature feature is going to be more of a meta comedy, as "a group of friends facing mid-life crises who are remaking their favorite movie from their youth head to the rainforest, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against natural disasters, giant snakes and violent criminals."
Paul Rudd (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Ghost Busters: Frozen Empire) and Jack Black (Borderlands, School of Rock) are currently in talks to play the lead roles.
According to THR, "Black would play an erstwhile director, a man stuck in his job as a wedding videographer, while Rudd would play an actor who did a stint on a cop show but sees his Hollywood dreams slipping further and further away." However, the trade notes that "another source said it was the other way around."
The original Anaconda was actually a pretty star-studded affair, with Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz and Jon Voight heading into the Amazon in the hopes of getting an elusive tribe on film, only to wind up being hunted by the world's largest snake. It wasn't exactly well-received upon release (41% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 24% Audience Score), but it has gained something of a cult following over the years.
The movie spawned a number of direct-to-DVD sequels and eventually crossed over with the Lake Placid franchise.
What do you make of this news? Are you a fan of the first movie? Drop us a comment down below.
"Filmmaker Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is traveling deep in the Amazon jungle looking for a forgotten tribe. Terri and her crew, which includes an anthropologist (Eric Stoltz) and a cameraman (Ice Cube), come across Paul (Jon Voight), who is stranded on the riverbank. He offers to help them find the tribe, but his secretive behavior puts everyone on edge. They realize too late that he's using them to find a legendary anaconda that's worth a fortune -- if they can catch it."