To quote the opening of Wicked (a movie that this franchise would kill to swap places with): good news! She’s dead! It appears that Sony has finally realized that its Spider-Man-less Spider-Man universe is never going to cut it and so the incoming Kraven the Hunter is being quietly positioned as the final entry in what has to be the world’s sorriest excuse for a cinematic universe.
One compliment you have to give the studio, I guess, is that it bravely — some one would say foolishly — marched ahead even after the release of Morbius, one of the most ridiculed movies of the decade, the kind of toxic embarrassment that would kill lesser (or, in this case, greater) film series.
Remarkably, things have only gone downhill since the dawn of Morbin Time in 2022 — at least in financial terms, if not quality, that would be impossible. Enter Kraven‘s roaringly bad box office projects, which make it all the more obvious why this is Sony’s last hunt in the Marvel jungle.
Kraven the Hunter is on track for a worse opening weekend than Morbius, so we might as well light this box office bomb now
The projections for Kraven‘s opening weekend at the box office are in, and they’re about as pretty as the Green Goblin. Even the more generous estimates guess at earnings in the $20-25 million range, while the more severe — and probably more accurate — foresee something closer to $13-15 million. For context, the world-famous flop that was Morbius sucked $39 million from the necks of moviegoers over its opening weekend.
In fact, Kraven could do even worse than its sister in the SSU (Sony’s Spider-Man Universe), the beautifully bonkers Madame Web. At least that managed managed $25 million across its extended six-day opening timeframe, and $15 in the traditional three-day weekend. If Kraven really does slip down towards $13m then the SSU will bow out with its biggest bomb yet, which is probably the most fitting way for this most hubristic of Hollywood enterprises to die.
At least Sony managed to cough up the Venom trilogy before the implosion of this universe — even though this fall’s Venom: The Last Dance was the lowest-grossing of the three, it still performed solidly, bringing home $473 million by the end of its theatrical run. No doubt the studio will be pushing for more of Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his symbiote significant other, then, but something tells us they’ll be leaving the creative side of things to Marvel from now on.
“It’s really about the next Spider-Man film,” an insider told The Wrap upon discussing Sony’s pivoting strategy when it comes to its Marvel assets. Tom Holland’s Spidey flicks have, of course, found enormous success, which is probably in large part due to their nature as Marvel/Sony co-productions, with Sony providing the money and Marvel handling basically everything else.
If it’s some small consolation, while early reviews are still looking pretty carnivorous, critics don’t seem to be as out for blood as they were with Morbius. Kraven might be the greatest hunter in the Marvel mythos, but the whole Sony’s Spider-Man Universe experiment ended up more as prey than predator.