Words Scott J. Davis

Two of cinema’s most beloved goofballs are teaming up to take on their biggest foe yet: a giant anaconda. If only Steve’s survival skills and Ant-Man’s powers stretched to reptiles!

Jack Black is Doug. Paul Rudd is Griff. Childhood best friends, bonded by their love of their favourite film from the nineties, who have dreamed of remaking it ever since.

Armed with a shoestring budget, a shaky script, and a couple of equally diehard and just as out of their depth friends, they head deep into the rainforest to shoot their Anaconda. But when fiction slithers into reality, the DIY monster movie they’re dying to make becomes a fight for survival – with a very real giant snake. Cue hilarity, horror, and high-stakes action set pieces on this perilous passion project.

If Rudd and Black aren’t enough for you, there’s supporting turns from Thandiwe Newton as Griff’s co-star Claire, Steve Zahn as frazzled cameraman Kenny, and Selton Mello as a snake handler suddenly getting to grips with a monster.

From the director of 2022’s unexpected hit The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent – yes, the one where Nic Cage and Pedro Pascal fall in love with Paddington 2 – this wild riverboat ride has all the makings of a surprise Christmas number one.

Pet Projects Gone Wild

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

He’s the best there is. Actually, he’s re-e-e-eally the only one there is. Jim Carrey’s side-mouth laughing, eccentrically haired, Hawaiian shirt-laden detective hunts for a dolphin to save the Super Bowl.

Eight-Legged Freaks

Horror and comedy collide as David Arquette and Scarlett Johansson see their small town overrun by giant spiders in this throwback to 1950s horror films with a wicked sense of humour.

Keanu

Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key embark on a dangerous mission to infiltrate an underground drug gang to rescue their stolen kitten, who’s voiced by Keanu Reeves. Yes, it’s exactly as silly as it sounds.