First look at #Anaconda starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black. The film follows two friends who take a trip to the Amazon to recreate their favorite childhood movie, ANACONDA, and the results are exactly as you’d expect.

“It’s a genuine kick in the ass,” teases Paul Rudd of the meta reboot of the 1997 action movie

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in “Anaconda”.Credit : Courtesy of Sony Pictures

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the action-comedy, which stars Black and Rudd as lifelong best friends Doug and Griff, who, according to a synopsis, have “always dreamed of remaking their all-time favorite movie: the cinematic ‘classic,’ Anaconda.”

That’s the 1997 thriller about a film crew fighting to survive a giant killer snake, which starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Owen Wilson and Jon Voight.

In the new movie, a midlife crisis inspires Doug and Griff to pursue their dream, so they go to the Amazon to pull off their remake.

“But,” teases the synopsis, “things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation. The movie they’re dying to make? It might just get them killed.”

Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn and Paul Rudd in “Anaconda”.Courtesy of Sony Pictures

“It’s a genuine kick in the ass,” Rudd, 56, says of Anaconda, which comes from director Tom Gormican, who was behind 2022’s very-meta Nicolas Cage movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Adds Rudd, “It was a clever script and the meta angles of it were appealing to me. I was a big fan of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and the tone of this and that seemed to live in the same world.”

Black, 56, echoes that Gormican and co-writer Kevin Etten “brought that same meta magic energy to this script and production.”

Jack Black in “Anaconda”.Courtesy of Sony Pictures

The Jumanji actor adds that it was “so fun” to team up with Rudd. “It was the main reason I wanted to do the movie,” says Black. “I’m a huge fan of Paul’s work. Dude is f—ing hilarious. And a sweet pea to boot!”

Likewise, for Rudd: “I love Jack and was thrilled to get to do this with him. We’ve done a few little things in the past, and to get to really work together for months like this was fantastic.”

The cast also includes Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello and Steve Zahn, who couldn’t help but crack up at his funny costars. “I f—ed up so many takes laughing at these guys,” says Zahn, 57. “Dream job.”

According to Black, Anaconda is an “exciting mix of comedy and horror.” He adds, “Buckle up for the thrill ride of the season — Anaconda is coming!”

Anaconda is in theaters Dec. 25.