Sony Pictures Entertainment finally released the official trailer for a new Anaconda remake, starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black, transforming the creature feature into a full-on comedy.
The first time we heard of an Anaconda remake was last December. In it, Rudd and Black essentially gave us a vibe check that their remake of the film would lean heavily into the campy nature of the 1997 flick starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight. Before that, all we knew about the plot was that it would be a “reimagined comedy” about “a group of friends facing midlife crises who are remaking their favorite movie from their youth.” And sure enough, that’s what the two-and-a-half-minute trailer gave us in all its Black and Rudd glory.
In the trailer, we see Black, in no uncertain terms, walk into Rudd’s house in a huff, saying, “Let’s reboot Anaconda.” Contrary to other reboots of 80s and 90s films, Rudd and Black’s premise is a sort of fake reboot within a reboot. If you smell toast, please take a moment to compose yourself. True to form, we jump to Rudd and Black assembling a crew on a boat just like in the OG film. The only problem is how they’re going to go about funding their passion project. They settle on shooting it “indie style,” producing the film by staging its events with a professional snake handler and your garden-variety anaconda, who they promptly kill on set by accident.
All of these comedies of errors lead to their crew traipsing in the jungle for another snake and getting more than they bargained for when a big-ass anaconda shows up. Naturally, a movie trailer rendition of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s chorus to “Baby Got Back” is spliced throughout the trailer, making it only a matter of time before its next trailer features Nicki Minaj’s version.
Directed by Tom Gormican (The Incredible Weight of Massive Talent), Anaconda also stars Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Daniela Melchior, and Selton Mello. Given Hollywood’s recent rollout of remakes of classics like Ice Cube’s infamously weird War of the Worlds, it’s at least admirable and honestly pretty charming that the Anaconda reboot is taking a kind of Tropic Thunder approach to the movie that’s sure to get butts in seats out of genuine and morbid curiosity to see if the film didn’t give away all of its best comedic bits in the trailer.
Folks won’t have long to wait and find out whether the reboot comedy Anaconda sticks its landing because it’s set to release in theaters this Christmas