Why Kraven The Hunter Bombed At The Box Office

Once "Morbius" inspired that infamous fake catchphrase, it was basically all over for Sony's Spider-Man Universe. There was just no way this interconnected web of adaptations of Marvel Comics characters (rooted in the universe of Spider-Man) could ever hope to recover as a serious contender for box office glory after such an event. Still, nearly three years after "Morbius," Sony/Columbia Pictures gave it the old college try once again with "Kraven the Hunter," which saw Aaron Taylor-Johnson taking on the titular lead role in an origin story for one of Spidey's most famous foes. Just like "Morbius" and "Madame Web," "Kraven the Hunter" was a box office flop, opening to an estimated $11 million domestically. Overseas numbers aren't much better for the film, which is turning into a financial disaster in every corner of the globe.

"Kraven the Hunter" was an ill-advised project from the start given how audiences didn't show up for "Morbius" or other films of its ilk. However, several key qualities in the execution of "Kraven" further ensured its financial demise. Many of the problems "Kraven the Hunter" faced also led to past Sony titles like "Madame Web" flopping at the box office. Dismal marketing, relying on obscure characters that even comic book geeks have no familiarity with, and terrible reviews — "Kraven the Hunter" faced all of this and more in the lead-up to its theatrical premiere. Breaking down why "Kraven the Hunter" flopped just makes it even more obvious that this title was always destined to fail.

The previous plan for Sony's Spider-Man Universe movies had been to merge supporting Spider-Man characters (Venom, Morbius, and Madame Web) with actors who were either award-season darlings or anchored massive box office hits (Tom Hardy, Jared Leto, and Dakota Johnson). "Kraven the Hunter" was always a bamboozling entry into this canon because leading man Aaron Taylor-Johnson is such a massive departure from this norm. While he played the supporting role of Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Taylor-Johnson has no real massive hits under his belt beyond the original "Kick-Ass." In his post-2015 acting credits, Taylor-Johnson has only appeared in two movies ("Bullet Train" and "The Fall Guy") that exceeded $60+ million domestically. In both features, he was firmly a supporting presence overshadowed by the leading stars. 

Upgrading this go-to ensemble cast member to leading man seemingly just because he was a one-off "Avenger" didn't give "Kraven the Hunter" a guaranteed star who could draw in audiences. "Kraven's" marketing just hammered home this problem with generic posters and billboards solely centered on Aaron Taylor-Johnson. These materials were trying to exploit a deep fanbase that didn't actually exist. At least the other Sony's Spider-Man Universe features were anchored by performers who'd previously headlined box office hits. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's lack of financial consistency, meanwhile, doomed "Kraven the Hunter" from the very start. Now that was something any one could see coming, to paraphrase Pietro. 

"Kraven the Hunter" had to go head-to-head against one of the world's most beloved Broadway properties in "Wicked." While this Jon M. Chu musical and "Moana 2" showed that two blockbusters can peacefully co-exist at the box office, something with as many innate challenges to face as "Kraven the Hunter" undoubtedly got hurt by the continued presence of this tentpole in the marketplace. If people wanted spectacle, they'd likely opt for the infinitely better-reviewed "Wicked" rather than "Kraven the Hunter." "Defying Gravity" trumps duels with the Rhino, every time. Possibly even more damaging to "Kraven the Hunter," though, was a December 2024 smash hit that even fewer people saw coming. A 10th anniversary IMAX re-release of "Interstellar" has become such a box office phenomenon that Paramount Picture even extended its original one-week run into "Kraven's" opening weekend.

When potential moviegoers were offered a choice between watching "Kraven" in IMAX or witnessing Christopher Nolan's beloved 2014 classic on the biggest screen possible, it was no contest. "Kraven the Hunter," on paper, was supposed to provide a jolt of escapism and spectacle in a December marketplace full of dreary award season contenders. Instead, it was the least favorable option for big screen grandeur when "Wicked" and "Interstellar" were playing on neighboring screens. "Wicked," in its fourth weekend of release, made more than double "Kraven's" debut, while "Interstellar" racked up another $3.3 million at only a few hundred theaters. Unsurprisingly, between these competing box office achievements, many "Kraven" screenings remained largely empty.  

In June 2023, the first "Kraven the Hunter" trailer was launched back when the movie was aiming for an October 2023 debut. Thanks to the dual 2023 labor strikes and the evolving release strategy from Sony/Columbia Pictures, "Kraven the Hunter" was repeatedly delayed until it landed in mid-December 2024. That meant there was a whopping 18-month gulf between when "Kraven the Hunter" started promoting itself and when it hit movie theaters. During that time, audiences either got sick of hearing about "Kraven" or just forgot it existed. All the while, Sony's marketing campaign for this feature was tremendously muted and lacking in energy. Possibly because the studio was launching "Venom: The Last Dance" just eight weeks earlier, "Kraven the Hunter's" promotional campaign lacked urgency or a personality.

Just look at the various "Kraven" posters, which lingered too heavily on an image (reminiscent of a famous comics cover) of Kraven sitting on a throne surrounded by skulls. It's not a bad starting visual for a marketing campaign, but "Kraven's" ad campaign failed to build on it or do anything else interesting. The various actors in the cast didn't do any eye-catching promotional stunts for the movie, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson's other December 2024 release ("Nosferatu") getting a lot more pre-release hype than "Kraven." Everything about "Kraven the Hunter's" promotional push, from its endless length to its lack of an idiosyncratic aesthetic, sealed the project's dismal fate at the box office. 

Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had an extra benefit of audience goodwill. From "Captain America: Civil War" to "Black Panther" to "Avengers: Endgame," these productions garnered strong marks from critics and audiences alike. People loved these films (as evidenced by their consistent A and A+ CinemaScore grades) and got excited about what was next down the pipeline. Sony's Spider-Man Universe has had the opposite problem. Save for the "Venom" movies, none of these titles have become hits or beloved in any sense of the word. It's hard getting people stoked for a franchise's continued existence when they never asked for more.

"Morbius" only gained notoriety as a mocking internet meme. Meanwhile, there were endless reasons "Madame Web" flopped at the box office. The films themselves were ignored and rebuked by the few folks who saw them in theaters. If anybody talked about them after their release, it was to mock elements like the Pepsi product placement in "Madame Web" or especially poor cinematography in "Morbius." Nobody was eager to see what came next in this saga. Instead, resentment built up that even bled over into "Venom: The Last Dance's" domestic box office run. "Kraven the Hunter" would've always had trouble garnering audience goodwill under the best of circumstances. Following movies as dismally received as "Morbius" and "Madame Web," though, inspired audiences to give this new title the chilliest of cold shoulders.

If there was one advantage to past Sony's Spider-Man Universe movies, it's that they weren't costly enterprises. "Morbius" and "Madame Web" each cost $75 million to make, a sharp contrast to the $200-300 million budgets of various post-2019 Marvel Studios movies. But even at those price tags, an $11 million "Kraven the Hunter" domestic opening weekend would've been bad news. However, this J.C. Chandor movie cost way more than "Morbius" and "Madame Web." Various estimates put "Kraven's" cost as $110-130 million. True, that didn't make "Kraven the Hunter" one of the most expensive R-rated movies of all time. However, it was still a hefty amount for an anti-hero origin story without any massive names in its cast.

Reportedly, that budget blew up over extensive reshoots done for "Kraven" as well as factors stemming from 2023's two major labor strikes. Wherever the final costs fell or what inspired this price tag, "Kraven the Hunter's" budget clearly soared higher than, say, "Oppenheimer." To hit profitability with that price, "Kraven" needed to buck all box office precedents and hit numbers way above other Sony's Spider-Man Universe titles. That was way too much pressure to put on this production. Maybe a $20 million "Kraven" movie made at the scale of the first "John Wick" could've had a chance to break even. However, there was just no way this motion picture could've turned a profit on a $110-130 million budget. Hunting for revenue here was a fool's errand!

In 2017, six new superhero movies opened in theaters and each of them grossed at least $225+ million domestically. Save for "Justice League," all were massive moneymakers for their respective financiers. In the 2010s, unless it was "Fant4stic" or "Dark Phoenix," a movie rooted in DC or Marvel Comics lore was a guaranteed hit. That has not been true for 2024. Across 2023 and 2024, flops like "Madame Web," "The Flash, "The Marvels," "The Crow," and "Joker: Folie a Deux" have lost money for studios and proved comic book adaptations are no longer bulletproof. "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" have proven certain titles in this domain can still draw a crowd, but the days of assured box office hits are gone.

That cold streak inevitably affected "Kraven the Hunter." Perhaps in 2018, audiences would've been more open to giving the film a shot. Even a flop like "Dark Phoenix" opened to a little over $35 million domestically back in 2019. However, hot on the heels of so many recent box office duds diluting the subgenre's credibility, "Kraven the Hunter" paid the price. If Marvel Studios couldn't get a "Captain Marvel" sequel to be a must-see event, there was no chance for "Kraven the Hunter" to leave a dent financially. Future comic book movies like "Clayface," "Thunderbolts*," and "Red Sonja" beware: "Kraven the Hunter's" box office shortcomings further solidifies how precarious this once lucrative goldmine has become.

As movies like "Elemental" have shown, bad marketing campaigns and poor opening weekends can be overcome if audience word of mouth is extra strong. Nothing sells a motion picture like the general public going gaga for it. "Kraven the Hunter" did not have that advantage in its box office run. Perhaps if folks were really enthusiastic about "Kraven" it could rally over the extended December holidays, like "The Greatest Showman" did back in 2017. Instead, it got a C CinemaScore grade from moviegoers, a worse mark than the C+ earned by prior Sony's Spider-Man Universe titles like "Madame Web" and "Morboius." Audiences weren't enthusiastic about "Kraven the Hunter," which is why it proved so frontloaded on a day-by-day basis over its opening weekend.

"Kraven the Hunter" is one of many cautionary tales about how a brand name and audience familiarity are nowhere near enough to guarantee a moneymaker at the box office. If audiences don't respond to your project, no amount of promotional dollars or studio logos can transform it into a hit. To boot, "Kraven the Hunter's" dismal word-of-mouth was antithetical to this feature's concept of getting people excited for future "Kraven" adventures. This film's ending teases Kraven going on to become the supervillain comic book fans know and love ... but how can such sequels ever exist if audiences didn't care for this first installment? If anything sealed "Kraven the Hunter's" fate, it was just that moviegoers were as dismissive of the movie as critics.

In an age where "Eternals" got past $400 million worldwide, there's no question unknown comic book characters can anchor lucrative movies. However, "Kraven the Hunter" needed all the help it could get in attracting moviegoers. Having more than just bottom-rung Spider-Man supporting characters from the comics in its story certainly couldn't have hurt its box office appeal. However, "Kraven the Hunter" focused on a bunch of characters who were either unrecognizable from their comic book incarnations (like The Chameleon or Calypso) or folks that had already been exploited in past Sony/Marvel films (like the Rhino). Other figures in the movie would've drawn blank expressions from even the most ardent comic book geeks, like The Foreigner.

"Kraven the Hunter's" storyline surrounded its titular vigilante with countless unknown figures from Marvel Comics lore and then promoted them to audiences with no sense of confidence or style. The "Guardians of the Galaxy" marketing campaign proudly leaned into the idea of a raccoon and tree saving the world. "Kraven the Hunter's" trailers and posters dropped several vaguely defined human beings with obscure comic book names into the general consciousness. A lack of any beloved or iconic characters in this motion picture (like, say, Spider-Man himself) just reinforced the feature's uselessness. The "Venom" movies could count on the legion of Venom fans to always turn up to the theater. "Kraven the Hunter," meanwhile, struggled to get anyone connected to The Foreigner and friends.

Back in May 2015, it was quite remarkable to see "Mad Max: Fury Road" open in a little over 3,700 movie theaters. At the time, that was the widest opening weekend theater count ever for an R-rated motion picture. These titles were thought of as having such innately limited box office potential that to spend money shipping them into 3,500+ theaters was a waste. The following year, "Deadpool" (which opened in 3,558 theaters) took the box office by storm, and suddenly a new paradigm was initiated. R-rated movies were back, and they could do massive numbers. Soon, other R-rated smash hits like "Logan," "It," "Joker," and the "John Wick" sequels followed that further reinforced how tremendous modern tentpoles could also inhabit more confining MPAA ratings.

With that new reality came greater pressure for individual movies to perform. In 2016, "Deadpool" being R-rated was incredibly unique and a one-of-a-kind experience. Today, even Disney produces R-rated superhero movies like "Deadpool & Wolverine." This further made "Kraven the Hunter" feel like old news. The film's marketing attempts to lean into Kraven's bloody carnage made it feel derivative compared to more lucrative R-rated superhero movies. Who cares if Kraven chomps off a guy's nose when Deadpool was using Wolverine's adamantium-laced skeleton to brutally dispatch TVA agents just a few months ago? The highest-grossing R-rated movies of all time prove that this MPAA rating doesn't necessarily stifle box office potential. However, "Kraven" struggled competing with this new wave of adult-skewing moneymakers.

Think of what modern action movies look like in the wake of "John Wick," other movies from the 87North crowd, and further motion pictures made in the mold of "Nobody" and "Atomic Blonde." Not only will some memorable punches leap into your mind, but chances are you'll also think of some extremely evocative color schemes. There's a reason lighting consisting of purple and pink hues is associated with key "John Wick" and "Atomic Blonde" sequences. Titles ranging from "Violent Night" to "Bullet Train" have demonstrated a willingness to embrace vivid colors to differentiate themselves from grey-dominated late 2000s action fare like "Gamer" or "Ninja Assassin." That phenomenon, though, made "Kraven the Hunter" feel comically out of step with audience expectations for 2020s action cinema.

Typical "Kraven" posters and commercials emphasized dimly-lit atmospheres with Kraven lurking in the shadows or dispatching baddies in drab-looking hallways. Even brightly-lit skirmishes happening in Russian exteriors lacked color or visual flourishes. In any era, this would've made "Kraven the Hunter" a tedious movie to watch. In an era where "Violent Night's" Santa gruesomely dispatches foes while wearing a bright red suit, "Kraven the Hunter's" subdued visual tendencies just weren't going to cut it. With no panache in its production or costume design, "Kraven the Hunter" further alienated folks who might give any "John Wick" knock-off a look.

Before "Home on the Range" hit theaters in April 2004, news broke that it would become the final Disney Animation Studios release done in hand-drawn animation. This was a significant development that instantly overshadowed everything related to "Home on the Range." This was no longer a kid-friendly animated feature, but rather the end of an era. The movie itself became immaterial in the grand scheme of history. Similarly, "Kraven the Hunter" had its theatrical launch upended by major media news and studio politics. A few days before its domestic premiere, word was unleashed that Sony's Spider-Man Universe was officially coming to a close, with "Kraven the Hunter" being the last, for now, entry in this scattered saga that never found its creative footing even with hits like "Venom."

"Kraven the Hunter" was already a movie that wasn't high on people's minds before that news hit the web. However, in the wake of that development, "Kraven the Hunter," like "Home on the Range" decades earlier, was swallowed up by larger cinematic developments. The entire Sony's Spider-Man Universe was going up in flames and people wanted to focus on that rather than any "Kraven"-oriented updates. Furthermore, this whole tanked "Kraven the Hunter's" reputation. How good could it possibly be if it was the final send-off for a relentlessly beleaguered attempt to mimic the Marvel Studios magic?