Kraven the Hunter Panel at Brazil’s Comic-Con Experience Bombs

Kraven the Hunter showed early signs of disaster after a recent promotional event reportedly tanked, and Sony is seemingly prepared for the next Spider-Man Universe movie to bomb.

Kraven the Hunter stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular Sergei Kravinoff, one of the most evil Spider-Man villains from Marvel Comics. However, as with the previous Sony Spider-Man Universe movies, Kraven the Hunter won’t feature the wall-crawler. The absence of Spider-Man in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe movies is just one of several factors contributing to the franchise’s underwhelming box office performance. Except for Tom Hardy’s Venom movies, each Sony Spider-Man Universe film has lost money for the studio, and audiences recently showed they are not interested in Kraven the Hunter either.

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At Brazil’s Comic-Con Experience (CCXP), fans learned that the secret panel was for Kraven the Hunter. Per The Wrap, someone who attended the panel noted that the event “played to rows of empty seats” with no stars at the presentation. If the “half-empty” panel signifies that Kraven the Hunter box office predictions accurately forecast a flop, Sony has seemingly received the message. Kraven the Hunter will debut on just 3,000 screens, roughly 25% less than Venom: The Last Dance was afforded for its theatrical premiere in October and the lowest of any Sony Spider-Man Universe movie.

Perhaps the worst news for the franchise is that Sony is virtually ending the live-action Spider-Man Universe with Kraven the Hunter. Per The Wrap, Sony is shifting its focus to projects involving Spider-Man. “They’ve developed what they want to develop for now,” a top talent agent told TheWrap. “It’s really about the next ‘Spider-Man’ film.” A second Sony insider reportedly specified to The Wrap that the studio is focused on Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4, the animated feature Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, and Nicolas Cage’s live-action Spider-Man Noir series.

Few will be surprised if Sony quits on its live-action Spider-Man Universe franchise “for now.” In addition to being box office bombs, moviegoers and critics have trashed each SSU movie. While Morbius enjoyed some fan enthusiasm (mostly for being bad enough to be enjoyable), that passion didn’t translate into financial success when Sony re-released the movie. Instead, Morbius failed twice at the box office. Even the Venom films, which were box office successes even with COVID-19 hindering the second movie’s performance, yielded diminishing results with the third installment.

It’s easy to blame the Sony Spider-Man Universe’s failure on ‘superhero fatigue,’ as Marvel Studios and DC have experienced their share of flops in recent years with The Marvels and Joker 2, to name a few examples. However, few will deny that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has nothing to blame but itself. The movies aren’t good, to most people who viewed them, and audiences have made it known that they aren’t interested in Spider-Man movies without the wall-crawler.

Kraven the Hunter will be released in theaters on December 13, 2024.

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Kraven the Hunter

Kraven the Hunter explores the origin story of Sergei Kravinoff, known as Kraven, as he navigates his tumultuous relationship with his father, Nikolai. This path of vengeance sets Kraven on a journey to become a formidable hunter with a reputation for fearsome brutality.

Release Date

December 13, 2024

Director

J.C. Chandor

Cast

Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Russell Crowe , Fred Hechinger , Ariana DeBose , Christopher Abbott , Alessandro Nivola , Levi Miller , Chi Lewis-Parry , Billy Barratt , Jessica Zhou , Michael Shaeffer , Dritan Kastrati , Greg Kolpakchi , Elander Moore , Filiz Fairweather , Duran Fulton Brown , Alex Skarbek , Rachel Handshaw , Preslav Shipkaliev , Murat Seven , Robert Ryan

Runtime

127 Minutes

Main Genre

Adventure

Character(s)

Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven , Nikolai Kravinoff , Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon , Calypso , The Foreigner , Aleksei Sytsevich aka The Rhino , Young Sergei , Big Rhino , Young Dmitri , Passerby , André , Oleksander , Guard , Law Firm Receptionist , Restaurant Diner , Sniper 2 , Russian Captain , Cora’s Mum , Prison Officer , Ömer Aksoy , Russian Prisoner

Writers

Art Marcum , Richard Wenk , Matt Holloway

Budget

130 million

Studio(s)

Sony

Distributor(s)

Sony

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Source: The Wrap