Jack Black and Paul Rudd Being Eyed for Anaconda Remake

Jack Black and Paul Rudd are in early talks to star in a remake of the 1997 adventure horror movie Anaconda from Columbia Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Black and Rudd’s exact roles in the film are currently unclear. However, one will play an aspiring director “stuck in his job as a wedding videographer” and the other will portray “an actor who did a stint on a cop show but sees his Hollywood dreams slipping further and further away.”

The Anaconda remake will be directed by Tom Gormican, who is co-writing it with Kevin Etten. The duo is best known for serving in the same roles on the 2022 Nicolas Cage meta-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Per THR, the plot of the reimagining “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.”

The original Anaconda starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, and Owen Wilson, centering around a documentary film crew trying to track down a snake legendary for its size and deadliness.

Raking in $136.8 million box office on a $45 million budget, it spawned an entire franchise, including the 2004 theatrical sequel The Hunt for the Blood Orchid and two films that went straight to the Sci-Fi Channel. The latest installment was a 2015 crossover with the crocodile-based Lake Placid franchise titled Lake Placid vs. Anaconda.