'Anaconda' Crushes David Fincher's Disowned Sci-Fi Sequel at the Box Office

Firmly in his Netflix era, director David Fincher has disappointed many of his fans by not making a theatrical movie in over a decade. But perhaps his trauma from what happened in the early 1990s runs deep, and the freedom that he gets on streaming is simply too precious for him to turn down. The filmmaker made his feature directorial debut with Alien 3, posed with the challenge of meeting the standards set by Ridley Scott and James Cameron, who’d directed the franchise’s iconic first two installments. Fincher had a famously difficult time on set, clashing with the studio over multiple creative decisions. He ultimately disowned the film and briefly flirted with the idea of never directing a movie again. However, despite his own dissatisfaction, Alien 3 was a reasonably successful movie, particularly at the international box office. It made over $160 million worldwide, and earned mixed reviews. Having cultivated a contingent of defenders, Alien 3 was recently overtaken at the domestic box office by a movie about exactly the kind of people who’d go to bat for it — Anaconda.

Starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd as lifelong fans of the 1997 Anaconda movie who travel to the Amazon to remake it, the new film has passed the $60 million mark at the domestic box office. In doing so, it has overtaken the $55 million lifetime haul of Alien 3, which was released in 1992. The movie featured a returning Sigourney Weaver in the central role of Ripley, along with Charles Dance, Lance Henriksen, and Charles Dutton. It opened to mixed reviews and is generally considered to be far weaker than both its predecessors. Alien 3 is now sitting at a 44% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Alien 3 takes admirable risks with franchise mythology, but far too few pay off in a thinly scripted sequel whose stylish visuals aren’t enough to enliven a lack of genuine thrills.”

The Alien Franchise Bounced Back in 2024

Fincher has distanced himself from the movie, telling The Guardian, “No one hated it more than me; to this day, no one hates it more than me.” The Alien franchise has witnessed its ups and downs over the years, with Scott himself trying to revive the series twice. However, it was with Fede Álvarez‘s Alien: Romulus that the franchise truly bounced back a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, the new Anaconda seems to have struck a chord with its target audience. Although it received mixed reviews, it holds an encouraging 76% audience score on RT, where the consensus reads, “Anaconda is a worthwhile expedition thanks to the buoyant charisma of Black, Rudd, and Zahn, who make this a meta comedy as delightfully ridiculous as it is tongue-in-snake.” You can watch Anaconda in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.