Why A Kraven The Hunter Movie Proves Sony Has No Idea What It’s Doing

Last week's news that Sony is reportedly moving ahead with a Kraven the Hunter film caught everyone off guard. Collider broke the story and in their report, said the studio has its eye on screenwriter Richard Wenk (The Equalizer 2) to pen the script. It's a bit of a bizarre move, really, even if The Hollywood Reporter did say in 2017 that Kraven would likely see his own film in the near future. And though there are no doubt folks who are excited about the project, we have to stop and question its existence. I mean, it isn't like character's experienced a major resurgence in Marvel Comics, or there's been a demand for a standalone film for the man known as Sergei Kravinoff. He's seen mostly as a Spidey villain – and not even as one of the main rogues like Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin or Carnage. So, why did Sony greenlight such a peculiar movie? The answer might not be too kind to the studio, so please do bear with us as we unpack the news. Kraven Is No Joker If anything, this film could be Sony's knee-jerk reaction to Warner Bros.' Joker movie. The Todd Phillips-helmed project is getting a lot of attention for all the right reasons and the hype is real ever since Joaquin Phoenix was announced as the Clown Prince of Crime, along with a cast featuring Robert De Niro and Marc Maron. Likely, the Sony execs saw this excitement and wanted in on a piece of the action. Obviously, some bright spark suggested Kraven as the studio's answer to the Ace of Knaves. But unfortunately, he isn't. He isn't even one of the top five Spidey villains, so why should the average Joe care about him? The Joker's an iconic character that's widely known and celebrated in popular culture. Go up to any person on the street around the world and ask them if they know who Mr. J is and there's a good chance they'll be familiar with the villain. Do the same for Kraven and most will think he's some kind of caravan brand. Think about it another way: Venom hasn't convinced the doubters yet, and he's certainly a more popular character than Kraven ever was. So, what makes Sony think that a film about a lesser-known villain to the mainstream audience will be any different? Venom Might End It Before It Begins Speaking of Eddie Brock, there's a cautious optimism about the forthcoming film. The trailers have gotten progressively better, but there's still a sense that it could go either way. Much of its success will rely on how the audience receives his newly tweaked origin, since Spider-Man seems unlikely to play a part here. Honestly, there are still too many questions about how this spinoff Spiderverse will exist without Spidey playing a prominent role. As such, everyone involved in the Kraven movie must be keeping a close eye on how Venom does. If it bombs at the box office, you can bet your bottom dollar that the other planned productions will be quietly canned. The mere fact that Sony's basing its future Spiderverse on one project shows there's already an uncertainty here. What's the plan? Well, right now, it looks like a spray-and-pray approach, seeing what sticks and taking it from there if it does. This isn't a good sign that we're in store for a cohesive universe. Additionally, the lure of the cinematic universe concept is slowing down – except for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) – with even Star Wars struggling to fill cinema seats with Solo: A Star Wars Story. So, what makes Sony think an obscure character like Kraven will bring the audiences out and into theaters when a Han Solo film couldn't? Sony's (Mis)Understanding Of Its Properties Yes, a studio is in the business of making money, but it helps if it understands its licensed properties' strengths and weaknesses – or even anything about them. For instance, Brian Michael Bendis revealed in a Yahoo! interview how he was once called in to Sony's offices before The Amazing Spider-Man to discuss if Spidey had organic or mechanical webshooters. "They sat me down in Amy Pascal's office with this big roomful of producers and writers and directors, and she looked at me and said, 'Organic webshooters or mechanical webshooters?' I said 'Mechanical,' and half the table said, 'Goddamn it!' They were mad because I was clearly the deciding vote, even though I didn't know that." They could've just picked up a comic, you know? If Sony's serious about building its own universe to compete with the MCU, it needs to hire a figure like Kevin Feige, who'll balance the movie side of things with knowledge of the source material. This isn't the '90s anymore where fans will take any superhero project thrown at them and accept sub-standard films. There are options – numerous ones, in fact – and fans vote with their wallets. Don't get us wrong: If done properly, a character like Kraven has a rich-enough backstory that could be turned into a terrific film. However, we wouldn't bet against Sony seeing him as some kind of evil Steve Irwin rather than taking the time to read a few books and getting to know him. Learning From The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Mistakes After a promising start with The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, Sony decided to accelerate its world building by chucking in a whole bunch of characters and narrative threads into The Amazing Spider-Man 2. These were intended to springboard future films and lead up to the highly touted Sinister Six, which would've been a Suicide Squad-esque project. It didn't work out that way, though, as the film received negative criticism, with most of it being directed at how so much was crammed in that it didn't make sense after a while. Sadly, this mishap coupled with the fabled Sony leaks also sealed the fate of any proposed sequels or spinoffs. Speaking to The Daily Beast about where the film went wrong, the series' star, Andrew Garfield, said: "I think what happened was, through the pre-production, production, and post-production, when you have something that works as a whole, and then you start removing portions of it – because there was even more of it than was in the final cut, and everything was related. Once you start removing things and saying, 'No, that doesn’t work,' then the thread is broken, and it's hard to go with the flow of the story. Certain people at the studio had problems with certain parts of it, and ultimately the studio is the final say in those movies because they're the tentpoles, so you have to answer to those people." Is anyone surprised to hear this? Undoubtedly, by giving up some control to Marvel and allowing the company to do Spider-Man: Homecoming, it shows that something was learned from previous mistakes. How much, though? And was it enough? Perhaps the reason for Spidey's MCU connection has more to do with business reasons and Sony capitalizing from the success of a fully established universe? Simply put, the world doesn't need a film about Kraven. There are more than enough properties out there that deserve movies before him. Is there the possibility that it could turn into a sleeper hit like Guardians of the Galaxy was? Sure, but do you really think that Sony possesses the fundamental understanding of its licensed comic book characters? We're not so certain.