Sony released the first trailer for Anaconda, a fresh — and decidedly self-aware — take on the 1997 snake horror film. Instead of retelling the original’s story beat-for-beat, the new movie follows a group of friends who set out to remake their childhood favorite. What begins as a low-budget passion project quickly turns dangerous when a real giant anaconda shows up in the jungle.
A film about remaking a film
At its heart, this Anaconda is a comedy that plays with the idea of nostalgia and midlife crisis. Jack Black plays Doug, a wedding videographer, and Paul Rudd plays Griff, a background actor — two lifelong friends who finally decide to shoot the movie they grew up loving. After they fail to secure a big budget, the pair and their cast-and-crew head into the Amazon to make the film on the cheap. As the trailer makes clear, their DIY production collapses into chaos when an actual enormous snake enters the picture.
What the trailer shows — laughs, scares, and a few close calls
The trailer alternates between the buddy-comedy setup and straight-up creature-horror moments. It teases glimpses of the anaconda attacking people, hints at a grisly kill, and even shows a moment where Black’s character is used as bait — though he survives. The tone promises a roller-coaster: one minute playful and self-referential, the next tense and dangerous. Paul Rudd summed it up in earlier promotional material, saying audiences should expect to “get scared, laugh, [and] celebrate with your friends.”
An ensemble cast with familiar faces
Alongside Rudd and Black, the film features a solid ensemble: Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Daniela Melchior, and Selton Mello are all listed among the principal players. The cast mix supports the movie’s blend of comedy and suspense, giving it both emotional beats and genre-payoff moments.
Behind the camera
Tom Gormican, who co-wrote and directed the film, brings his comedic sensibility from projects such as The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. He wrote the screenplay with Kevin Etten, and the production comes from Brad Fuller and Andrew Form under their Fully Formed Entertainment banner. The creative team leans into the film-within-a-film concept, which allows the movie to nod to the original while carving out its own identity.
Not a remake — but rooted in the 1997 cult hit
Although it shares the title with the 1997 Anaconda, this new movie is not a straight remake. Instead, it uses the original as a cultural reference point: the characters grew up watching that late-’90s thriller — the one that starred Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz and Jonathan Hyde — and they want to recreate it. For context, the 1997 Anaconda performed well at the box office (about $136 million worldwide) and later spun off sequels, including Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) plus additional made-for-TV follow-ups. The new film plays with that legacy rather than redoing its plot.
Release date and what to expect
Paul Rudd and Jack Black revealed the project and its release plans last year in a promotional clip — and Sony has set the theatrical release for December 25, 2025. If the trailer is any indication, audiences will get a holiday movie that’s equal parts crowd-pleasing comedy and creature-feature thrills: a movie about filmmaking that gets eaten up by the very thing it set out to depict.
Whether viewers come for the laughs, the nostalgia, or the snake-induced chills, this Anaconda is positioning itself as a genre mashup with a wink — and a hungry reptile — at its center.
