Anaconda (2025) (4K UHD Review)
Director
Tom GormicanRelease Date(s)
2025 (March 17, 2026)Studio(s)
Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: D
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A-
- Extras Grade: D
Review
Luis Llosa’s Anaconda managed to ride the post-Jurassic Park monster movie wave to a respectable $136 million worldwide gross in 1997, so it was inevitable that it would generate a sequel. Which it did, seven years later, but the franchise didn’t stop there. While Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid managed to get an honest-to-God theatrical release in 2004, the films that followed went directly to video: Anaconda 3: Offspring, Anacondas: Trail of Blood, and Lake Placid vs. Anaconda. Yet intellectual properties being intellectual properties, it was equally inevitable that someone would eventually get around to making a theatrical remake and/or reboot, and that’s exactly what happened in 2024—in China, that is. This Chinese version managed to make its way stateside the following year as Anaconda: Cursed Jungle, but it’s not an “authentic” remake/reboot until Hollowood gets involved, and that’s exactly what Sony did. Just a few days after the Chinese film slithered its way to these shores, Sony’s “official” reboot was released—titled, in a burst of commercial creativity, Anaconda.
The project had actually been in development at Sony since 2020, but they struggled to find the right hook for it. It wasn’t until writer/director Tom Gormican pitched them on making a self-aware meta-commentary on the franchise, describing his concept as a comedic take on The Big Chill meets Anaconda, that they finally bit. And when straightforward horror goes out the window, enter Jack Black and Paul Rudd. Aside from a brief cameo in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the two had never worked together on a feature film, so Sony must have been thrilled when the duo signed onto the project. Add in Steve Zahn and Thandiwe Newton, and you have a genuine ensemble cast in order to meet the needs of awkwardly injecting Lawrence Kasdan into Luis Llosa. What could possibly go wrong?
Gormican wrote the script along with his partner Kevin Etten, and it takes on the very idea of making a reboot by being a reboot about making a reboot. Doug (Black), Griff (Rudd), Kenny (Zahn), and Claire (Newton) are all friends who once dreamed of being filmmakers when they were children, but they’ve drifted into mediocrity as adults. Only Doug and Griff are involved with anything remotely resembling filmmaking anymore, but let’s just say that they’ve settled: Doug shoots wedding videos, while Griff is a second-rate bit actor struggling to find work. But Griff hits on the idea of reliving their childhood dreams by traveling to the Amazon River and shooting an Anaconda remake guerilla-style. Of course, he doesn’t have the rights to do so, but he convinces his friends to take the trip via the tried-and-true method of lying his ass off. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious woman (Daniela Melchior) who also lies to them in order to join the party; a snake handler (Selton Mello) who loses his snake thanks to Griff’s idiocy; a Sony film crew that’s shooting the real Anaconda remake; and various cameos by cast members from the original film. Oh, and they also encounter a very real and very hungry giant Anaconda with a taste for human flesh. Hijinks ensue.
On paper, it’s a clever concept, because if you’re going to reboot an IP, then why not make fun of the fact that you’re rebooting an IP? The only problem is that somewhere along the line, they left out the fun. There’s plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and outtakes that show the cast members having the time of their lives, laughing hysterically at themselves and each other, but that laughter never really translates into the film itself. Maybe that’s the ultimate in meta-commentary: Gormican & Company made a reboot that makes fun of reboots by being entertaining for everyone involved while thumbing its nose at the actual audience for reboots. In other words, the joke was always going to be on us for choosing to watch it.
Still, if you’re a fan of Jack Black and/or Paul Rudd, you may not be a particularly demanding viewer, and there’s probably enough here to keep you watching. Plus, the CGI snakes are a huge improvement over the ones that Sony Imageworks created for the 1997 version, although they still can’t hold a candle to Walt Conti’s wonderful animatronic versions. And if you are a big fan of the original film, you’ll be waiting breathlessly for those cameos. Thanks to that kind of nostalgia factor and the presence of Black and Rudd, Anaconda was a modest success when it was released Christmas weekend in 2025, although it still found itself trailing even the likes of The Housemaid and Marty Supreme, let alone the dual juggernauts of Zootopia 2 and Avatar 3: Fire, Fire, and Still More Fire. So, while the Anaconda franchise will probably never die, it may at least go dormant for a while. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Cinematographer Nigel Bluck captured Anaconda digitally (at 4K and 4.6K resolution) using Arri Alexa 35 cameras with Panavision C-series and E-series lenses, plus a Sony FX6 camera with Sony G-Master lenses. Post-production work was completed as a 4K Digital Intermediate, framed at 2.39:1 for its theatrical release. This version, which is graded for High Dynamic Range in Dolby Vision and HDR10, is pretty interesting since it’s far more subtle than anything in the film itself. Oh, it’s razor-sharp and crystal-clear, but the HDR grade doesn’t take the color palette to oversaturated extremes. Instead, it’s surprisingly faithful to the overall color balance in the original film, not desaturated by any means, but far more natural-looking than some other HDR grades out there. The contrast range is relatively restrained as well, and while there are plenty of deep blacks when appropriate, the highlights aren’t exaggerated—Sony’s early days of blindingly vivid HDR grades are long over. It’s not eye candy, and as a digitally captured production, it’s not exactly filmic, either, but it’s still a solid 4K presentation.
Primary audio is offered in English Dolby Atmos. It’s a lively mix, at least once the gang reaches the jungle, taking full advantage of the many opportunities for immersiveness. The overheads get a workout, both from subtle environmental cues and more overt sound effects like monkeys walking across a car roof. It’s dynamic, too, with plenty of slam during the action scenes. David Fleming’s score does its best to forge its own path while still honoring some of Randy Edelman’s themes from the first film. Similarly to the video, it’s a solid Atmos track.
Additional audio options include English, French, Spanish, and Thai 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, plus English and French Descriptive Service. Subtitle options include English, English SDH, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, Korean, Spanish, and Thai.
The Sony Pictures 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release of Anaconda is UHD only—there’s no Blu-ray included in the package, but there is a Digital Code on a paper insert tucked inside. There’s also a J-card slipcover. The following extras are included, all of them in HD:
- A Ride Into Chaos with Jack & Paul (5:18)
- Hiss-terical Outtakes & Bloopers (3:10)
- Friends in the Wild: The Cast (5:49)
- The Snake Charmer: Tom Gormican (4:41)
- Reinventing the Legend: Anaconda (4:33)
- Deleted & Extended Scenes:
- Intro with Tom Gormican (:17)
- Griff Go Apologize (1:01)
- Rewriting Montage (1:34)
- Wedding Video Announcement (1:52)
- Previews (7:38, 3 in all)
The extras consist mostly of typical EPK fluff. They include limited behind-the-scenes footage and brief snippets of interviews with Tom Gormican, Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Steve Zahn, Thandie Newton, Selton Mello, Daniela Melchior, production designer Steven Jones-Evans, visual effects supervisor Frazer Churchill, location manager Nick Smith, and (vague spoiler alert) Ice Cube. A Ride Into Chaos with Jack & Paul focuses what happened when the two actors finally got together, with everyone laughing at Rudd and/or themselves. (There’s more laughter here in five minutes than there is in the whole film put together.) Friends in the Wild: The Cast features, well, the cast talking about the story and their characters. Reinventing the Legend: Anaconda features everyone now talking about the concept and the overall scope of the production.
The Snake Charmer: Tom Gormican consists primarily of the cast blowing smoke up Gormican’s ass (and Gormican blowing smoke up his own), but the director does explain how he pitched the story to Sony as The Big Chill meets Anaconda. There’s also a set of Deleted & Extended Scenes, the less said of which the better. Finally, there’s a collection of Hiss-terical Outtakes & Bloopers, which aren’t. (Oh, and if you’re interested, the previews are for Jumanji: The Next Level, Karate Kid: Legends, and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.)
The extras are nothing to write home about, but the audio and video quality are up to Sony’s usual high standards. As for the film itself? You’re on your own, folks.
-Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).