Anaconda (2025) ending explained: Did Doug actually kill the anaconda?

Anaconda (2025) ends like a creature feature and a Hollywood joke at the same time. Tom Gormican’s meta action comedy horror movie stars Jack Black as Doug McCallister and Paul Rudd as Ronald “Griff” Griffin Jr., with Steve Zahn as Kenny, Thandiwe Newton as Claire, Daniela Melchior as Ana, and Selton Mello as snake handler Santiago. The setup is simple on purpose.

Four friends chase a childhood dream by remaking Anaconda in the Amazon, only for the “movie snake” problem to turn into a real giant anaconda problem. The final stretch answers the headline question clearly, but it also undercuts the win with a second twist.

Doug and Griff survive, they finish their scrappy film, and then the industry reminds them that survival does not equal success. The last button flips it again, turning Doug from a guy chasing a fantasy into someone being offered the real job.

What happens in Anaconda (2025)? Full plot recap, scene by scene, leading into the final snake fight

Doug is a working wedding videographer who wants to be taken seriously, even by himself. Griff is still chasing show business, and he sells the reunion like it is destiny. Doug says,

“We’ve dreamed of making this movie ever since we were kids.”

That line becomes the movie’s engine, because the dream is sincere even when the plan is reckless. Doug, Griff, Kenny, and Claire take out a loan and fly to Brazil to shoot a low-budget remake of Anaconda in the Amazon. Their early days play like a messy behind-the-scenes comedy. They argue over tone, they try to talk like “real” filmmakers, and Doug starts treating the jungle and their new contacts as story material.

They hire Santiago as a snake handler, and they also cross paths with Ana, who presents herself as someone hunting dangerous illegal miners in the region. Doug fixates on her as the “real movie” they accidentally found, which pushes Griff into old insecurity and old ego.

Then the production breaks. Griff accidentally kills the snake they planned to use on camera, and panic takes over the set. Santiago insists they can replace it, so he and Griff go into the jungle to find another. That is the pivot where the movie stops playing pretend. Santiago is attacked by a real giant anaconda, and the crew realizes the danger is not a prop problem anymore. One of them sums up the shift with,

“We came here to make Anaconda. Now we are in it.”

The second twist hits right after the first. A separate film crew passes by and reveals they are also making Anaconda, which makes Doug ask the obvious question that Griff keeps dodging.

Doug learns Griff never secured the rights. Griff admits it, frames it as a necessary lie, and tries to move forward anyway. Doug reads it as betrayal because it means the whole trip was built on a fantasy. Griff storms off and briefly joins the other crew, chasing legitimacy the way he always has.

That choice gets punished fast. Griff finds the rival set wrecked and the people gone, with the implication that the anaconda has been picking them off. Griff runs back to Doug, Kenny, and Claire because the only team that matters is the one that actually cares if he lives.

Ana’s storyline also flips. She reveals she is not a heroic crusader. She is tied to illegal mining, and she forces the group to help her gather gold. It becomes a human threat detour that ends the way creature features often end. The jungle does not keep villains safe. The anaconda drags Ana underwater and kills her, and the remaining friends scramble to escape.

The escape sequence is brutal because the comedy keeps collapsing under real stakes. Doug gets eaten and nearly dies, which is staged as a classic monster movie beat. Kenny, Griff, and Claire think Doug is gone, and they make the cold decision to use his body as bait.

Doug wakes up at the worst possible second, turning the bait plan into a near-fatal misunderstanding. It is also the moment where the friendship conflict finally snaps into place. Nobody is “directing” anymore. They are just trying to keep each other alive.

They stumble onto a wrecked film set in the jungle, where Ice Cube appears as himself and helps them rig pyrotechnics for a kill attempt. The first blast does not finish the job, so they go to a riskier backup plan. Griff shoots propane tanks with a flare to blow up the anaconda’s body, and Doug gets close enough to deliver the final blow to the head. The movie treats it like a shared kill because it is a shared survival.

Anaconda (2025) ending explained: How the win turns into a loss, and why Doug and Griff choose each other?

The ending lands two different punches in a row. First, the friends win the fight that matters in the moment. Doug and Griff stop competing for control and start working like partners. Griff is the one who makes the big explosion happen, and Doug is the one who finishes it, which makes the headline question less about credit and more about collaboration.

Second, the victory gets reframed as soon as they return to “normal life.” The group still finishes their movie, because the trip changed them and because they need the story to mean something. But the film cannot secure a proper theatrical release after a cease arrives, reminding them that you cannot outrun intellectual property law just because you survived a jungle.

That is why the ending reads like a midlife crisis comedy with teeth. Doug and Griff get the emotional win, not the business win. Griff and Claire end up married, Kenny finally moves past his stuck place, and Doug is left staring at the gap between what he wanted and what he actually earned. Then the movie adds one last industry flip. Jennifer Lopez tells Doug,

“I saw your little movie, and I loved it.”

The line matters because it turns Doug’s “fake” remake into a calling card, even if he never had the rights.

Anaconda (2025) ending explained: Did Doug actually kill the anaconda?

Yes, Doug does kill the anaconda, but the movie frames it as a two-part finish rather than a solo hero moment. Griff’s flare shot into the propane tanks is what blows the snake’s body apart and stops the immediate threat. Doug then delivers the final blow to the head, which is the clean visual confirmation that the specific giant anaconda they are fighting is dead.

The more interesting angle is that the movie refuses to treat “Doug killed it” as the real ending. The real ending is the double reversal after the fight. Doug survives the snake, but he cannot “win” the right to make Anaconda the way Griff promised. At the same time, Doug’s talent finally gets seen by someone who can turn it into a real job, which is why the Lopez button lands as the last laugh and the last lifeline. A credits stinger also reveals Santiago is alive, keeping the tone playful even after the bloodier beats.

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