Anaconda, the late 1990s animal horror hit, is getting the reboot treatment.
Sony’s Columbia Pictures is developing an all-new and all-modern take on the cult movie, hiring Evan Daugherty, who has worked on such tentpoles as Tomb Raider and Snow White and the Huntsman, to pen the script.
No producer is attached at this stage.
The 1997 original followed a documentary film crew in the Amazon that comes across an obsessed hunter looking to find a legendary anaconda. The hunter derails the expedition for his own purpose, with the filmmakers now forced to contend with a murderous madman and a giant snake that will squeeze the life out of them and swallow them for good measure.
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The movie starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer and Jonathan Hyde.
Pilloried by critics and earning numerous Razzies, the creature feature nevertheless proved popular with audiences. It also launched a franchise, including one theatrical sequel and three direct-to-home releases. Insiders say the title has proved to be one of the most profitable in Sony’s library.
Sources say Daugherty’s take is not a remake or a sequel but a reimagining. While details are being kept deep in the belly of the beast, it is known that the studio is hoping to take a Meg-style approach to the concept. The Meg was the 2018 Jason Statham-starring movie that upped the killer shark movie concept by having scientists deal with a prehistoric shark dinosaur known as a megalodon. The movie made over half a billion dollars. The studio is aiming to take what was a simple and relatively cheap programmer with a B-movie concept and eventize it in scope and budget.
Daugherty made a splash when he co-wrote 2012’s Huntsman, which starred Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart. He also worked on Divergent, the YA action-adventure thriller starring Shailene Woodley, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tomb Raider, helping launch MGM’s Lara Croft franchise starring Alicia Vikander.
He is repped by Verve, management firm Alibi and law outfit McKuin Frankel.
