Anaconda (1997)
43%RT Audience Score: 24%
Awards & Nominations: 6 wins & 11 nominations
Anaconda’s pulpy pleasures are constricted by its own absurdity, but creature feature fans may enjoy its brazen silliness
Anaconda is a classic horror movie that’s so bad it’s good. The animatronic and computer-generated effects are impressive, but the snake that screams is just ridiculous. The monster looks like a garden hose in some scenes, but it still manages to deliver the necessary thrills and chills. It’s a Jaws rip-off about a 40-foot man-eating snake on the loose in the Brazilian rainforest. The film is cheesy and campy, but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s one of those movies that you can’t help but laugh at, even though it’s supposed to be serious and scary. If you’re looking for a good time, Anaconda is definitely worth a watch.
Production Company(ies)
Mooz Films, Cedrus Invest Bank Sunnyland Film
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Amazonas, Brazil
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for intense adventure violence, and for brief language and sensuality
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Mar 6, 2001
Genre(s)
Mystery & thriller
Keyword(s)
starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, directed by Luis Llosa, written by Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Mystery & thriller, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Carol Buckland, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Joe Leydon, Derek Adams, Mick LaSalle, Kenneth Turan, Barbara Shulgasser, Mike Massie, Tim Brayton, Jules Brenner, produced by Verna Harrah, Leonard Rabinowitz, Carole Little, PG-13, Amazon jungle, forgotten tribe, anthropologist, cameraman, snake, creature feature, pulpy pleasures, absurdity, brazen silliness, Jaws rip-off, Brazilian rain forest, animatronic effects, computer-generated effects, horror movie, serious, scary, bloody, imagination, humour
Worldwide gross: $136,885,767
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $255,166,138
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 573
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 27,826,187
US/Canada gross: $65,885,767
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $122,816,397
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 615
US/Canada opening weekend: $16,620,887
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $30,982,677
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 439
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $45,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $83,883,639
Production budget ranking: 500
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $45,171,339
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $126,111,160
ROI to date (est.): 98%
ROI ranking: 947
Ice Cube – Danny Rich
Jon Voight – Paul Sarone
Eric Stoltz – Dr. Steven Cale
Jonathan Hyde – Warren Westridge
Owen Wilson – Gary Dixon
Director(s)
Luis Llosa
Writer(s)
Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.
Producer(s)
Verna Harrah, Leonard Rabinowitz, Carole Little
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
6 wins & 11 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (52) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (32)
The monster looks like a maniacal garden hose in a couple of sequences. Still, it delivers the necessary thrills and chills.
January 5, 2018
Carol Buckland
CNN.com
TOP CRITIC
Anaconda, directed by Luis Llosa with all of the subtlety of a snake-oil salesman, is in the great tradition of cinematic cheese, as processed as Kraft Singles slices.
July 6, 2010 | Rating: B-
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
A silly and plodding Jaws rip-off about a 40-foot man-eating snake on the prowl in the Brazilian rain forest.
October 18, 2008
Joe Leydon
Variety
TOP CRITIC
One never questions the realism of the remarkable animatronic and computer-generated effects, but it’s hard to credit a snake that screams.
February 9, 2006
Derek Adams
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Anaconda is about a snake that eats everybody. That about says it all.
June 18, 2002 | Rating: 1/4
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Anaconda is such a classic combination of feckless dramaturgy and rampant excess that giving way to giggles is the only sane response.
February 14, 2001
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Anaconda is a skillful if hokey horror movie that will seem both familiar and campy.
March 2, 2022 | Rating: 3/5
Barbara Shulgasser
Common Sense Media
One of those horror films that intends to be serious, scary, and bloody, but turns out laughably hokey.
September 9, 2020 | Rating: 3/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
One of the highlights of… the last Golden Age of so-bad-it’s-good cinema.
April 8, 2020 | Rating: 2/5
Tim Brayton
Alternate Ending
Yet somehow, Anaconda racks up a winning score (and body count) with a mix of imagination and humour.
August 15, 2018 | Rating: 3/5
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)
October 3, 2012 | Rating: C
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
An above average specimen hungering for tasty morsels.
May 20, 2011 | Rating: 3/5
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals…
Plot
When a documentary crew traveling through the Amazon jungle, picks up a stranded man, they are unaware of the trouble that will occur. This stranger’s hobby is to capture the giant Anaconda snake, and plans to continue targeting it on their boat, by any means necessary.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Jon Voight plays the secretive and dangerous Paul Sarone in Anaconda.
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