Ice Cube has returned to the “Anaconda” franchise with a cameo in Sony’s new theatrical reboot, saying he “jumped” at the offer after learning what kind of film the team wanted to make. At the movie’s Los Angeles premiere on Saturday, he called the appearance “full circle” and predicted audiences “probably get a kick” out of seeing him pop up on screen.
The new “Anaconda,” directed by Tom Gormican and written with Kevin Etten, opens in U.S. theaters on Dec. 25. Paul Rudd and Jack Black play childhood best friends who decide to remake their favorite movie and head into the Amazon to shoot it. Their amateur production turns dangerous once a real giant snake enters the picture, turning a chaotic set into a fight to survive.
Sony has sold the project as an action-comedy with creature-feature stakes, and the cast has reinforced that balancing act. Jack Black has said the new film is “a lot funnier than the original,” while stressing it still plays for scares: “It’s a horror film for real, but it’s also got some clownin’ for sure.” The ensemble includes Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Daniela Melchior and Selton Mello.
Cloaking Cube’s cameo in secrecy fits the movie’s meta approach: it leans on audience memory of the 1997 “Anaconda,” then twists the setup into a story about people trying to recreate that memory. The original film starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Owen Wilson, Eric Stoltz and Danny Trejo, following a documentary crew trapped in the Amazon with a hunter chasing a massive snake. The franchise later spun off sequels, building a long tail of snake-movie nostalgia that the new film now courts with a wink and a familiar face.
