'Anaconda' Reboot Slithering Into Existence With 'Snow White And The Huntsman' Writer

An Anaconda reboot will soon be slithering to a theater near you. The late 1990s cult horror hit is getting a modern reboot from Sony's Columbia Pictures, which has tapped Snow White and the Huntsman writer Evan Daugherty to pen the script.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that an Anaconda reboot is in the works at Columbia Pictures, which has hired Evan Daugherty, who has worked on tentpoles like Tomb Raider and Divergent, to write the script.

Daugherty's take on the new Anaconda will not be a remake or a sequel, but a "reimagining," according to THR, which notes that Columbia Pictures is hoping for a "Meg-style approach to the concept." The 2018 Jason Statham vehicle took the killer shark movie to campy big-budget heights, and went on to make over half a billion dollars (with the help of the Chinese market, which The Meg made considerable effort to appeal to). The studio is hoping the new Anaconda will take "B-movie concept and eventize it in scope and budget."

Daugherty is certainly no stranger to the event movie, having co-written 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman, which starred Charlie Theron, Chris Hemsworth, and Kristen Stewart. He's also written the story for the YA action-adventure Divergent starring Shailene Woodley, and made some B-movie level products like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tomb Raider into big blockbuster films. But Daugherty's screenplays have always been quite serious, and don't share the same over-the-top sensibilities of The Meg. But we'll have to see if his script matches the expectations of the studio.

No producer or director is yet attached to the project.

The original 1997 Anaconda starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer and Jonathan Hyde in creature feature that followed a documentary film crew that ventures into the Amazon. They come across a hunter obsessed with a legendary anaconda, and are soon forced to fend off the bloodthirsty giant snake.

Despite poor reviews and numerous Razzies, Anaconda went on to become a sizable box office hit, grossing  $136.8 million worldwide and spawning several theatrical and direct-to-video sequels. I'm sure no one is itching for an Anaconda reboot, but with THR reporting that the title is one of the most profitable in Sony's library, it's no wonder the studio wants to reboot it.