Let’s xertz past any dignified efforts to shed a good light on the situation: Kraven the Hunter is another slog of a Sony Spiderverse film (that’s still devoid of any Spider-Man involvement) and another indictment on how much the superhero genre has fallen from grace five years ago. Barring the wave of success that Tom Hardy’s bromance propelled Venom to a successful trilogy, Sony has not learned the graceful lesson that you cannot build a sub-franchise of an IP when the IP is the only variable of interest it can offer. And after five years, when you could somehow whip out a Captain Marvel or Black Panther to skyrocket as “solo adventures” in preparation for the culmination of the Infinity Saga, that safety net has become as obsolete as Johnny Depp’s interest in returning to Disney for another Pirates of the Caribbean film (not a reflection of Mr. Depp per se).
Sony’s latest (and last?) installment under this banner earned a miserable $11 million over the weekend, which is the lowest since New Mutants‘ $7 million in 2020 (if you want to cast the COVID variables out, then it’s the weakest since Jonah Hex‘s $5.6 million in 2010). Miserable reviews, a C from CinemaScore, and much online skepticism on whether Sony can even work with the web-slinger further have put the hunter into hunted mode. This debut is even worse than the atrociously-received Madame Web that debuted in February with $15.3 million. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s led feature may get only $23 million domestically, which signals that Sony needs to banish all future projects of this universe as we advance.
Technically, yes, it isn’t an overbudgeted nightmare like a Red One or Joker 2; however, Sony has reaped all the wrong rewards as superhero movies have touched the base field with other non-superhero genres in the past year. Aside from some nostalgic chapters or established star-strudded combos in the last four years, no superhero movie has evolved to the great heights they were once capable of pre-2020. For every Spider-Man: No Way Home, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, you got an Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Black Adam, and Morbius. One could argue that the toxic fandom and belligerent requests could see that you could win a director’s cut into its “proper” form a la Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but I digress. The point is that no one requested an IP play starring another generic dude to stray away from its central anchor still. Then the realization is that commercial success is now a mere hope that couldn’t even be guaranteed as Sony laid in their gravestone following a batch of dodgy enacted spinoffs that repress the genre’s potential any further. Superheros are now Earth-bound, so until an Avengers: Doomsday pops up, expect the superheroes to start feeling the gravity.
In other news, Moana 2 remained atop the box office with $26.6 million domestic in its third weekend. It has now passed $715 million worldwide, obliterating its predecessor. A simple nod will have Disney checking their notes on how not to continue pumping every toon onto their PVOD and maybe rolling the ball with a dark horse everyone seems to enjoy. Not to be outdone, Wicked: Part One earned $22.5 million in its fourth weekend. In passing $359 million domestically, it’s the sixth biggest musical in North America, lagging the Frozen tales, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King (and its live re-adaptation). Gladiator II just missed $400 million worldwide, so it’ll resume pace sometime this week.
Red One is crawling to $100 million domestic (even though it is still an over-budgeted bust), the re-release of Interstellar has allowed it to lapse $200 million domestic, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has become Lionsgate’s top domestic earner of 2024. Newcomer The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim earned $4.6 million in its domestic debut.
Next weekend sees the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Mufasa: The Lion King, The Brutalist, and Homestead.
