Inside the Real-World Locations of Anaconda 2025: Every Filming Spot Revealed
Anaconda 2025 slithered into theaters on December 25, as Tom Gormican unleashes a star-studded, fun-but-deadly jungle romp across jaw-dropping rainforests and perilous rivers — and every filming location behind the adventure is revealed.
File this under holiday counterprogramming: the new Anaconda lands on Christmas Day with a smirk, a snake, and a lot of gorgeous jungle that is not actually the Amazon. Here is where they really shot it, and why it works on screen.
The movie in a bite
Director Tom Gormican reboots the idea of Luis Llosa's 1997 cult favorite as an action-adventure comedy. Jack Black and Paul Rudd play Doug and Griff, childhood besties having a midlife crisis so big they decide to remake their favorite 90s creature feature themselves. They rope in friends Kenny (Steve Zahn) and Claire (Thandiwe Newton), head into the wild, and try to shoot their dream project. Then a very real, very massive anaconda crashes the party, and suddenly the goofy homage turns into a survival scramble where the line between their movie and actual danger gets uncomfortably thin.
Where they actually shot it
Despite the Amazon storyline, the entire production filmed in Queensland, Australia. Why? Because parts of Queensland look convincingly like South America's tropical rainforest on camera. It is one of those movie magic moves that seems obvious once you see it, but still feels a little surprising.
- Gold Coast rainforests: Dense, green, and perfect for faking Amazonian jungle.
- Village Roadshow Studios (Oxenford): Indoor jungle builds and water tank work were done here, with the usual big-studio setup — multiple sound stages, production offices, and rooms for editing, makeup, wardrobe, the whole deal.
- Purling Brook Falls in Springbrook National Park: The dramatic waterfalls and rugged terrain double as the backdrop for the film's chase sequences.
- Tamborine Mountain and the Gold Coast hinterland: More natural splendor to sell the whole 'we are in the Amazon' illusion.
Production timeline
Principal photography ran fast: it started in January 2025 and wrapped by late February 2025, so the shoot lasted under two months. The film opened in theaters December 25, 2025.
How it's playing
Early reviews have been mixed, with a lot of the criticism aimed at the film's tone — the comedy-survival balance does not land for everyone. That said, if you are in it for the cast, the commitment to the bit, and the scenery doing an impressively convincing Amazon cosplay, it delivers exactly that.