The Unfortunate Result of Mild Success, or “Why So Many Anaconda Movies?”

If you read my last article, then you’ll know that we talked about how a horror franchise can lose its power. Meaning that each subsequent film has a greater chance at failing both critically and financially. When we took a look at the Friday The 13th series as an example, we saw that the first entry did well enough on both fronts to warrant a slew of sequels. Not only that, but it’s also regarded as one of the films to kickstart the slasher boom of the 1980s. So, what happens when a horror film achieves mild success?

In 1997, a horror creature feature called Anaconda was released. It follows a team of documentary makers as they try to find a hidden tribe in the Amazon. However, along the way they encounter a deranged poacher, and a humongous, killer anaconda. While it was considered a box office success as it tripled its $45 million budget with its worldwide box office revenue, it still couldn’t compete with other films coming out at the time. Though it would be tough as a killer snake movie to compare yourself to films such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Scream 2, and Titanic. But that scrappy little snake pulled through and became a cult classic. Thus began a line of sequels beginning in 2004, and ending in 2015 (although a reboot is said to be in the works. I wonder if Chris Pratt will voice the snake).

We are not here to discuss the quality of each sequel, at least in depth. For as my famous saying goes, we will come back to it later (in article form)…