It’s one thing to have a hit in Hollywood, but it’s another to milk that hit for all its worth and make a franchise out of it; that’s where the real money is, just ask George Lucas.

But if you don’t have the IP, you could try the next best thing, making a “spiritual successor” to it, as is the case here, as Jack Black and Paul Rudd star in a ‘homage’ to the 1997 original, borrowing more than just its title.

With his career as an actor not going in the direction he wants, Griff (Rudd) catches up with old school pal Doug (Black) at his birthday, where he raises the question of making a movie together, just like they did in the old days.

Doug, who has a film adjacent career making wedding videos, would love to, but has responsibilities now as a family man. But Griff has an ace up his sleeve, that he reveals: he has the rights to one of their favourite movies, 1997’s Anaconda.

It’s an opportunity that Doug can’t turn down, so he and Griff, along with old pals Claire (Thandiwe Newton) and Kenny (Steve Zahn), head off to the Amazon to shoot their version of the infamous snake flick. But little do they know, their filming is going to be interrupted, not only by the hunt for an illegal gold miner, but also disturb a very real and very big snake, who’s less interested in being in front of camera, and more on working on his appetite, by eating the film crew.

Tom Gormican’s follow-up to his second film, 2022’s highly entertaining The Unbearable Weight of a Massive Talent, which in itself is film adjacent with its plot, goes full on meta with his latest.

It’s a film about the making of a film, rebooting a popular film from the nineties, which is ambitiously tri-meta. Unfortunately the concept is more entertaining than the execution, that isn’t fully realised on any front.

The US director’s vision, on a script he co-wrote, is just a too safe; there was an opportunity to push the boat out – literally and metaphorically – and embrace the silliness of it all. There was also an opportunity to ramp the horror aspect too, but its 15 certificate kept it all too family friendly.

It also feels as if Black is being held back too, unable to unleash the zaniness that he’s more than capable of.

It has a few genuinely funny scenes, but no more than that.

As much as it wanted to be a groundbreaking meta-movie, it ended up just riding the snakeskin coattails of the original IP, and bringing nothing of any worth to the reptile romp party.