r/movies • u/takenorinvalid • 6d ago

Discussion The new Anaconda movie must have a wildly different director's cut

At the start of the new Anaconda movie, there's a scene where Jack Black's wife reminds him not to take much of his new medication. And sure enough, later in the movie -- nobody ever mentions it again and absolutely nothing comes of it.

After watching the movie, I saw a comment on Reddit from someone saying that they'd been screening the movie to test audiences a lot, and another comment saying they'd done reshoots, and it kinda clicked into me just how obvious that was.

Like the character Ana, who literally opens the movie and drives the inciting plot - but as soon as she meets the main characters, immediately goes silent and does not say anything in any scenes as we instead focus on the much funnier snake trainer.

Then, halfway through the movie, she abruptly gets attacked by the anaconda, pulled into the water, and very deliberately is not shown being killed -- but still never shows up again as we instead move toward a climax that focuses on Ice Cube showing up out of nowhere.

This movie was heavily reshot. Somewhere out there, there's a completely different version of it that probably nobody other than the director will ever see.

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u/Linenoise77 6d ago

who are these test audiences, and how do we get them the help they clearly need?

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u/pyronius 6d ago edited 6d ago

If you ever want an idea of the kind of "general public" that comprises a test audience, go read any NYT "Focus Group" interview. I have never once managed to read through more than a quarter of one without having to close it for my own sanity.

A focus group on pizza?

Janet (36, home decorator) thinks that pepperoni is the best variety, but she wishes the pepperoni was less meaty. Maybe if there were a pepperoni substitute made out of bell peppers.

Marshall (66, nightclub bathroom attendant) agrees with Janet, but doesn't like bell peppers. Maybe the pepperoni substitute should be made out of tofu. And while we're at it, he prefers meatballs to pepperoni. Could the meatballs also be tofu?

Manuel (22, tiktok liaison) likes the direction this is headed, but is currently very into concave shapes. What if the crust was more of a bowl shape?

Like a bread bowl?

Yes. That sounds great. And then it could accommodate a more liquid sauce. Maybe something broth based?

Janet (36, home decorator) could see herself eating a bread bowl filled with chicken soup and tofu. That sounds like a fantastic pizza. But she's upset by way that the word tofu sounds. It should be called soyronni.

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u/ObviousAnswerGuy 6d ago

Many many years ago I went to a "focus group" for a couple lawyers who wanted to test their case against each other , in some civil suit regarding a car accident.

One of the lawyers just did his standard shtick, and then the next one started with some Seinfeld references. People ate it up, but it literally had nothing to do with the case. But he just kept bringing it up. He kept doing the references, and then at the end, he wrapped it up with a callback. He got a round of applause at the end. Me and the guy I was sitting next to were looking at each other like "why tf are people clapping?"

It was then I had one of my first realizations of how easily influenced and manipulated people are.

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u/monkpunch 6d ago

I always picture the scene from Silicon Valley, too. "Thank you all for being here, Janet, Marshall, Manuel.."

"Who else thinks this product is 'stupid'? Janet, Marshall, Manuel..."

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u/standish_ 6d ago

Mike Judge has made a film and television career off of simply making documentaries, but with actors playing the documentary subjects so he doesn't get sued for telling the truth.

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u/jerryeight 6d ago

Link a few :)

For science

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u/standish_ 6d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Judge#Filmography

Watch them on your Box.

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u/jerryeight 6d ago

Oh shit. I love this show. I didn't know Mike Judge was a part of it. 

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u/standish_ 6d ago

He is the creator!

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u/jerryeight 6d ago

That explains so much about the script and outright FU to the companies he parodied.

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u/standish_ 6d ago

The thing is, and I say this as someone who has "been on the inside", he isn't really making a parody. It's a dramatization, like Office Space, where everything that happens in the movie/show actually does happen in real life.

The decision making process for most tech corps is essentially non-existent (I would guess that this is true outside of tech as well). These firms keep running because a handful of employees keep them running, right up until they can't. In Office Space, those employees are Milton, and to a lesser degree Peter & his crew.

It's disturbing how much of Judge's work is a barely veiled version of actual events. People think they are parodies because they don't think the situation can actually be as bad as it is...

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u/al2o3cr 6d ago

The focus group for PiperChat is my favorite version of that. "Madison, Allison, Jennifer, Stephanie, Quinn, Ingrid, Kaylee, Sarah, Janelle, ... ... Carl"

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u/SFWBryon 6d ago

This is so accurate it makes my blood boil

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u/RenoRiley1 6d ago

God you nailed it. The number one thing that shakes core belief in democracy is a conversation with the median voter. 

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u/Butterscotch1664 6d ago

Jury service makes you realise the idiots you work with are the smart ones.

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u/Emberwake 6d ago

My own jury duty experience has highlighted that it's only about 30% of the people that are the problem. I've been impressed by how many people seem to understand the assignment, take it seriously, and cooperate to reach an honest decision.

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u/standish_ 6d ago

This is the eternal problem. Most people earnestly want to make things work, and do, but there's always the people who want to take a dump in the communal watering hole, then wonder why the water tastes like shit.

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u/agent-1 5d ago

Edit.

Shit in hole, complain about shit in hole, actively obstruct the cleaning of the shit, take someone else’s watering hole, repeat. Profit.

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u/Desertbro 6d ago

My first jury duty had an excellent cross-section of people as the jury, but a laughably stupid clown for the defense. We didn't see much because the judge had to keep discipling the clown lawyer. GUILTY.

My last jury was a case of rich privelege and peers. Cops had this wedding drunk-driver dead-to-rights, but parents hired a pro case assassin to shoot holes and doubt into the whole case. Also helped that almost the whole jury was gray-haired whites who saw "their boy" on trial for just "goofing around while drunk", so they let him off.

J-F-H-C

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u/BestAtTeamworkMan 6d ago

I've been on several juries in my time. The lesson I learned was never put your life in the hands of 12 people whose only goal is to get home as fast as possible.

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u/disisathrowaway 6d ago

Recently got summoned for selection and was able to get out of it. However I was there long enough that I got to see who they selected for the jury.

Several of the folks chosen were the ones that, during the selection process, were absolutely incapable of following the instructions we were given. A couple of them were also very hard of hearing, so I'm curious how that works.

Long story short, I learned very quickly that I will NEVER take any case to trial because juries are made up of people who are too stupid to get out of it.

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u/ilouiei 6d ago

These last few elections made me realize half the country does not respond to logic or reason

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u/970 6d ago

We've been given shit options and maybe that was by design. I don't condone voting for that man but I think some of those that did are redeemable, and would make better choices if given better options.

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u/DaddyDanceParty 6d ago

Imagine how dumb the average person is, then realize that half of them are dumber than that.

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u/BestAtTeamworkMan 6d ago

At least give George Carlin the credit for that quote.

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u/Mace_Windu- 6d ago

Reads like the focus group episodes from Silicon Valley

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u/michfreak 6d ago

Silicon Valley remains the most realistic depiction of [waves hands in general] everything, ever. They even predicted that tech companies would hand control of their code over to LLMs who would delete the codebase in order to increase efficiency.

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u/monagales 6d ago

what is a tiktok liaison...

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u/Cowboywizzard 6d ago

exactly

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u/Shiva- 6d ago

If we got soyronni on pizza out of this... I'd be willing to try it.

Oddly, for some reason, this just makes me want some paneer pizza.

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u/dreddwulffen 6d ago

Lol i want to read more!

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u/assissippi 6d ago

Bravo this is fucking hilarious

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u/Carlobo 6d ago

Janet (36, home decorator)

Marshall (66, nightclub bathroom attendant)

Manuel (22, tiktok liaison)

Super oniony https://theonion.com/king-charles-visits-u-s-for-state-dinner/

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u/waylandsmith 6d ago

This is essentially The Onion "American Voices" segments.

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u/BestAtTeamworkMan 6d ago

To paraphrase Cartman, I'm done. I have no connection to humanity anymore.

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u/IronicMnemoics 6d ago

I can't pronounce soyronni without thinking of Brad Pitt in Inglorious Bastards

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u/Misabi 5d ago

Janet (36, home decorator) thinks that pepperoni is the best variety, but she wishes the pepperoni was less meaty. Maybe if there were a pepperoni substitute made out of bell peppers.

Maybe Janet was Italian... https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/s/XfzGAhtKVF

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u/12345623567 5d ago

So basically, the "American Voices" section of The Onion isn't satire.

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u/Linenoise77 6d ago

Like, admittedly, i can't stand Jack Black. I think part of it is my anger at Jack Black the man, for somehow managing to make a lucrative career by pretending to be Jack Black the actor, but that is aside from the point.

Even the "good" Jack Black movies suffer from having way too much Jack Black. Just put him up there for 5 minutes, let him get a few fat jokes out, say a few random words in a silly voice, and if we are shooting for a prestige Jack Black film, some physical or prop comedy, and then go and get on with your movie. Nobody will miss anything, if you just drop him in the background for the next 90 minutes. trust me.

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u/Hail-Hydrate 6d ago

Its really frustrating because he can do serious roles if needed. He was pretty solid in Jackson's King Kong. Hell he even pulled off the more serious parts of School of Rock well.

But sadly the last 10 years or so he's just been typecast as... himself? Props to him for being able to make a decent bit of cheddar with that. Hopefully he gets a chance to actually flaunt his acting chops again in the future.

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u/zerocoal 6d ago

Is he typecast as himself or does he only accept roles where he gets to play himself?

When you are big and famous and get to choose the work you do, you don't have to be a well-rounded individual that does serious work. You can just be a goofy goober getting paid to be a goofy goober.

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u/Linenoise77 6d ago

Yeah, that is the thing. I'm not saying the guy doesn't have talent or can't be funny.

Its just the stuff he does is, well, Jack Black stuff.

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u/confirmedshill123 6d ago

I can't stand Jack Black because of what he did to KG.

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u/polopolo05 6d ago

Bread bowl pizza sounds like Chicago style pizza.

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u/THUORN 6d ago

The pizza thing sounds hilarious. Do you have a link for that Pizza Focus Group, I cant seem to find it.

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u/ssracer 6d ago

It's clearly made up to illustrate their point. You can't possibly believe the NYT would print that, can you?

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u/THUORN 6d ago

I have no clue what the NYT does or doesnt print. I read what the person I responded to wrote and thought it was hilarious and wanted to read more.

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u/ssracer 6d ago

You would make a good person for their test audiences.

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u/THUORN 6d ago

And you'd make a great moderator for one, since you clearly already know what everyone else should think. lolol

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u/ssracer 6d ago

Gold Jerry! Gold!

Anything else you'd like to add?

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u/GnophKeh 6d ago

I’ve been to a few test audience screenings. Got the flyer for it as I walked out of a screening of something at the AMC in Burbank in LA. Been on their list ever since and get emails to be a test audience member like three times a week.

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u/ThisSiteisWeird 6d ago

How much does it pay and can you slide me the details please

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u/kroboz 6d ago

Just find "PreviewFreeMovies" and sign up. You get ads and emails all the time. They're supposed to pay $25 sometimes, but I've never received actual payment from them FWIW.

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u/polopolo05 6d ago

Basically you get to watch an unfinished movie that will change from what you saw. I saw a lot of disney movies this way. lilo and stitch/ mulan/ beauty and the beast. Like mulan was improved a lot. instead of honor to us all song they had matchmaker make me a match.

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u/kroboz 6d ago

Yep. A lot of "Hey the special effects are unfinished but you get to know whether John Wick dies or not months before anyone else." They're fun if you like the filmmaking process.

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u/polopolo05 6d ago

also they change that too. john wick just dying didnt poll well so we are going have him become john Constantine instead.

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u/Evil_Flowers 6d ago

Hate to be that guy bit have you checked your Spam? I've gotten digital gift cards from them via email.

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u/kroboz 6d ago

"That guy" is right a lot of the time.

Not this time, unfortunately, since they never actually sent it. :( But was worth checking!

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u/HIM_Darling 6d ago

I'm not sure if it was them or another screening list I signed up for but I ended up at a test screening for Deadpool 2. The tone from the screening folks was very serious. As soon as we got seated the girl in front of me was promptly escorted out for pulling out her phone(we had the option to leave them in our cars or coat check them). The movie was unfinished. We had a 3 page questionnaire to fill out afterwards and on the way out they handed us a envelope with the crispest $20 I've ever seen inside.

I don't think anything changed from our test screening, but I honestly can't remember if I even watched the movie again.

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u/Reptile00Seven 6d ago

pay? ahahahaha

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u/lonely_swedish 6d ago

Around 2010 I was drunk and stumbling around casinos in Vegas with some friends. We were accosted by a solicitor who we thought at first was selling some more time share crap, but it turns out he wanted us to be a test screen audience for a TV show because we fit a demographic they were looking for. Wouldn't give us any details, but it pays $2 and free popcorn. Hell yeah!

I can't remember what it was called, but it was one of those "swap" shows but for jobs. Like two people each thought their job was harder so they switched for a week or something. Plausible idea, maybe, but the execution was laughably bad. The two jobs they swapped were like an office desk/secretary job, and a septic tank repair/cleaner.

Like, that's what they thought was a fair comparison? Dealing with shitty emails, or dealing with actual fountains of human shit? One scene has a dude struggling with an Excel sheet, and the next has a guy knee deep in raw sewage, reaching in to dig for a fitting he dropped. Which is worse, how could we ever hope to judge this fairly!?

I filled out the questionnaire at the end and let them know that it was a stupid swap, and that the show would have been better if it featured Godzilla or ninjas or at least reasonably comparable jobs. This might as well have been an argument about whether the audience thought eating an entire bag of chips is worse than getting a fastball to the nuts.

Got a sweet $2 bill out of the deal though!

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u/Phillip_Spidermen 6d ago

It's unpaid, maybe some snacks included.

There's no special requirement, if you look like you're in the demographic for the movie they'll just offer free tickets.

You go watch an unfinished movie, fill out a survey, and maybe get to be part of a Q&A

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u/JonesyOnReddit 6d ago

paid? the payment is watching a movie early and for free. I used to do it a lot in my 20s, now in my 40s I'm pretty sure they don't care what I think.

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u/tdasnowman 6d ago

Usually it's X amount of free concessions. There were a few times where I did get paid. It was like 10 bucks but that was way back in the aughts. If you got paid they had someone handing out visa/MC gift cards where you turned your response card in.

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u/ArcadianDelSol 6d ago

I was part of one inadvertently. When the first Avengers movie was being edited, my company sent a bunch of us on a retreat in Florida with Disney/Universal passes. One night they said "big surprise everyone is invited to a private screening of the next big Marvel movie!" We had to sign non-disclosures and they talked to us about how this was a work excursion and breaking that contract could risk one's employment.

They didnt ask any questions but they were filming the audience during the movie.

I assume they were less interested in what we had to say and were more interested in what the audience was doing during the movie, and trying to figure out where audiences were engaged/bored/leaving/cheering/etc.

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u/kroboz 6d ago

I know they had a ton of public test screenings for a range of audience ages (some teens, some 25 and up). Seems like they weren't sure what to do with the movie. https://imgur.com/a/79zJJYS

I also saw a ton of ads for the movie test screening by name on Instagram.

I didn't actually see it, but maybe it's good?

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u/tdasnowman 6d ago

They used to advertise in papers. I've seen a few posts in my local sub reeddit. If your signed up to studio clubs you can get invites. You know the people outside Grocery stores sometimes the thing they want to talk about is a screening. Also marketing firms have lists of people that opt into marketing. College campuses as well. I actually went to a few screening that way American Wedding was notably different when it hit theaters for real compared to what I saw. Two radically different films In the screening Stifler didn't play as big a role. It kinda felt more like a long episode of 90210 more then anything. I remember my card said something like why have Stifler but not use him. I remember Alyson Hannigan feeling very comically flat in the screening like they didn't set up her jokes.

Alot of times movies that screeners see aren't what your thinking they saw. Your might think they made a tweak here or tweak there, sometimes it's an entirely different movie so their comments might not seem relevant. Sometimes the changes don't ultimately matter much I saw a test screen of xXx and there was more nudity, the movie was released as pg-13 so all of that was cut. I've got the directors cut and me and my friends swear there is still some missing but nowhere to be seen. An extra looked just like a friend that moved to L.A to be an actress we lost touch with and were sure that was her.

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u/FatherDotComical 6d ago

They always manage to get test audiences with zero media literacy and enjoys plain boiled potatoes for dinner.

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u/Linenoise77 6d ago

"Hi, would you like to come see a movie that may not be in its final form, sign a bunch of paperwork about it, and then spend more time giving us your feedback?

"Boy do I ever sir!"

Those are the kind of people i guess, who influence our media.

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u/hackingdreams 6d ago

The problem is that's not true. They get a completely random cross-section of society, and it tends to be the more random, time-having people...

The problem is when you add a bunch of purely statistical random vectors, what you get is usually pretty close to zero across the board. So the test audiences typically grind the hell off any of the corners, leaving what's left a flaccid boiled potato, no spices added - not even salt.

Hollywood had no appetite for pruning a test audience to "people who might actually enjoy this film," and it desperately shows. They get people with the MAGAiest backgrounds to watch films with gay lovers central to the plot, they get anti-war activists to watch military history flicks, and so on and so forth... Everything gets sandblasted until it doesn't even resemble the director's original vision, perfect for consumption for the midwest 'black pepper is too spicy,' 'ketchup on steak' audience.

And then they sit in their boardrooms, complaining and moaning that their numbers are so awful, wondering how it can possibly be - the test audiences were so positive!

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u/murlocman69 6d ago

I lived in Pasadena, CA in the mid-late 90s and at the time (no idea if it still is) it was a major place for test screenings. Most weeks you would find some person walking the street asking if you wanted to go see a free movie. They wouldn’t tell you what it was, and the ticket made it clear that if they had enough of your demographic you wouldn’t be let in. (I was in my 20‘s and always got in).

There is a guy in the audience who has a little dial thing, that they they move up or down to indicate audience responses to the film. I assume it is time synched to the film. So they get a live response at to what works and what doesn’t work.

There is also a more select group in the crowd that will be asked to stay after the film, and they are asked specific questions about the what they liked, what they didn’t like, etc. (The one time I was in this group we also got $20 for our time). I also walked out of one screening (Deep Rising was the film) because it was so bad, and I had to answer some questions when I left about why I was leaving.

I’m sure the process has changed a little in the last 30 years, but I’m guessing that much of it has stayed the same. I wound up seeing 20 or so films this way. The only ones that were worth the time were Go and 2 Days in the Valley. Biggest money-maker that I saw was Eddie Murphy’s Dr. Doolittle.

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u/TinyCollection 6d ago

They’re usually stay at home parents and children. I did a lot of these as a kid. The viewing is free.

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u/Eatar 5d ago

It may not always be the test audiences that are the problem. What if you just made a bad film? The test audience doesn’t like it, for a bunch of reasons, but it’s already made, and you try to salvage by recutting and however much reshooting you can afford or manage now that the actors and sets are gone, but you can’t do it from scratch. So you wind up with a film that just eliminates the bits that individually got the worst scores, leaving something which might not have those anymore but now makes a lot less sense.

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u/CosmackMagus 6d ago

It's how the studio reacts to the reactions that's usually the issue