Exclusive: Anaconda Reboot In Development From Massive Talent Director
The Anaconda reboot will be directed by The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent director Tom Gormican.
A new version of Anaconda is in development at Sony Pictures with the director of the Nicolas Cage film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Tom Gormican, attached to the project. According to our trusted and proven sources, a reboot of the 1997 snake horror movie is in the works, but it is unclear whether it will be a complete remake of the original or more of a thematic continuation of the idea that big reptiles are scary. While the original Jennifer Lopez film was not critically well-regarded, it was a stealth blockbuster at the box office.
The original Anaconda film starred Jennifer Lopez as a documentary filmmaker in the Amazon Jungle, with Owen Wilson, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz, and Jonathan Hyde serving as her film crew. While making a film about a long-lost indigenous tribe, she encounters a mysterious hunter (Jon Voight with a notoriously strange accent) who turns out to be in pursuit of a deadly, mammoth anaconda. As one could expect, things largely do not go well for the film crew.
Anaconda was savaged by critics when it was released (and still holds a dismal 40 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) but made an impressive $136 million against a $45 million budget, more than enough for the studio to greenlight a surprising number of sequels. The first sequel Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (which did not feature any returning stars from the original) was released in theaters to a decent $71 million box office return, followed by another three Anaconda movies made for television.
However, the franchise has been dormant since 2015’s Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, which was a crossover between the series and the simpatico Lake Placid crocodile horror series (finally answering the age-old question of who will win in the battle of monstrous giant reptiles). It makes sense that Sony Pictures is interested in reviving a proven moneymaker like the Anaconda franchise, especially if it can position it as a legacy sequel to an existing horror series like Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer.
It is interesting that Anaconda is being rebooted with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent director Tom Gormican, whose feature-length directorial debut starring Nicolas Cage was a critically adored meta-comedy. The film starred Cage as a fictionalized version of himself dealing with a dwindling career and a distant relationship with his teenage daughter (Lily Mo Sheen). In order to make money, he takes a personal appearance fee to attend the birthday of a mysterious superfan (Pedro Pascal), and the CIA becomes involved, naturally.
Gormican being attached to the Anaconda reboot implies that the new movie will have more of a comedic element than the original film, and might even be a meta-commentary on snake-based horror movies. It feels unlikely that Jennifer Lopez will be returning for the new Anaconda, but one never knows, given that an acclaimed director is on board. We will continue to update you with news of the Anaconda reboot and any other snakes that are involved.
