2024’s Worst Popcorn Movie: Kraven the Hunter

Kraven the Hunter has flopped, earning only a 14% score on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.5 on IMDb, with a worldwide opening weekend gross of just $26 million.

This sci-fi action film is directed by J. C. Chandor and co-written by Matt Holloway and Steve Ditko, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe, Alessandro Nivola, and Christopher Abbott.

2024 is shaping up to be a relatively quiet year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with just one highly anticipated and relatively well-performing film Deadpool & Wolverine released. However, Sony Pictures has been rolling out its own trio of superhero movies, hoping to keep audiences engaged. Even so, the dismal box office performance of Madame Web and the mixed reception of Venom 3: The Last Dance suggest that Sony’s line of Marvel spinoffs is reaching a critical turning point.

According to The Wrap, Kraven the Hunter could very well be the last entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSMU) for the foreseeable future. This not only indicates that Sony’s attempt to create a shared universe without its core character, Spider-Man, might be coming to an end, but also highlights the broader challenges Hollywood faces when trying to spin off major franchises without their central figures.

In theory, the story of Kraven shouldn’t have turned out so poorly. The character has been around for 60 years, and IGN once ranked him as the 53rd greatest comic book villain of all time. Kraven first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in August 1964. Born Sergei Kravinoff, he’s a descendant of Russian nobility who became the most lethal hunter on Earth, with a physique like a Greek statue, superhuman abilities, fierce determination, and excellent combat skills—combining raw ferocity with a seductive edge that has won over countless fans. Beyond his endless charisma, Kraven’s backstory also comes with a layer of mystique, giving filmmakers substantial room for adaptation.

In the film, Kraven’s father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), is the head of a global poaching ring, commanding a group of ruthless mercenaries. Growing up in a twisted, oppressive home environment, Kraven is indoctrinated from a young age to see the world in terms of “hunter vs. prey,” fed the toxic belief that only the strong survive. His mother, deemed too weak by his father, was abandoned and later took her own life. Ultimately, Kraven cannot bring himself to follow in his father’s footsteps.

During a hunting trip with his father to slay a lion, Kraven is critically injured by a lion’s bite. He’s saved at the last moment by Calypso (in the comics, she’s a voodoo priestess), whose family possesses a magical potion that not only cures injuries but grants extraordinary abilities. Thanks to this potion, Sergei Kravinoff survives and transforms into Kraven.

The opening act is actually not bad. Promoted as the first R-rated movie co-produced by Sony and Marvel, Kraven the Hunter shows Kraven disguising himself as a prisoner to infiltrate a jail and punish criminals. It’s a good way to introduce the protagonist while showcasing his skills—he’s acrobatic, incredibly strong, and can even communicate with animals. Of course, the bloody, violent scenes are the focus: at one point, Kraven stabs an enemy in the neck with an animal fang, complete with lingering shots of blood spraying everywhere. This firmly establishes the film’s R-rated tone.

Unfortunately, that’s about all the movie has going for it. You could even say the director’s choice to place these shocking scenes so early on signals a lack of confidence in the rest of the story.

Reportedly, the film underwent extensive reshoots and re-edits, resulting in a jarringly disjointed narrative that barely holds together. As a teenager, Kraven kills a poacher who was cutting off rhino horns. The scene ends with a close-up of a dead bull. In the very next shot, we see a different group of poachers loading horns onto a truck, and the same dead bull inexplicably appears. Normally, you’d expect a follow-up from the previous scene, with the young Kraven taking on the remaining poachers. But instead, an adult Kraven suddenly appears, decked out in an over-the-top costume. The abrupt jump is unintentionally comical.

There’s a scene where Kraven slaughters poachers on the savanna, and they’re clearly filmed on location—but whenever the camera cuts to Kraven’s close-ups, the background suddenly switches to a VFX background, which totally kills the immersion. Another strange edit shows the female lead pressing a button to open several weapon lockers at Kraven’s base—only for Kraven to do the exact same thing moments later. Did the editor forget what just happened?

The film never bothers to explain the Foreigner’s abilities. He should be a cool villain—elegant, focused, and merciless—but he just shows up with awkward CGI effects, then dies in some random, easily avoidable way. It’s as if nobody cares about him. Rhino is similarly mishandled; he appears out of nowhere, his powers are barely addressed, and his grudge against Kraven feels unearned.

The action sequences are full of clichés we’ve all seen: the villain neglects to finish off the hero, the villain dies because he talks too much, or the villain gets taken out by a sidekick mid-monologue. It’s all so predictable that you leave the theater with nothing to remember.

Finally, we have to talk about the broader context—Sony’s Marvel Universe. It likely came about when Sony noticed how successful the MCU had become and decided to capitalize on its own Marvel rights, primarily tied to Spider-Man and its related characters.

In reality, Sony has never officially acknowledged this shared universe as fully canon. But after the success of Venom, Sony saw an opportunity and greenlit a slew of films and TV projects—most of which have since fallen through. Sony wanted to emulate the MCU’s approach to world-building without actually learning how to map out long-term projects effectively.

Over the past few years, Sony has released multiple Spider-Man-related spinoffs in an attempt to create a shared universe without depicting Spider-Man himself. But the reception has often been underwhelming, especially when Madame Web bombed at the box office. This has forced Sony to rethink its strategy and figure out how to remain competitive in a saturated superhero market.

With Kraven the Hunter possibly marking the end of the SSMU, Sony is reorienting its focus toward projects that directly involve Spider-Man. Facing this potential box-office dud and an uncertain future for SSMU, Sony’s next steps will be crucial. Will they continue to invest in existing characters, explore entirely new storylines, or concentrate on expanding Spider-Man-centric films? Only time will tell.

Sony’s exploration in the superhero genre has gone on for years, but shifting market demands and changing audience tastes mean they have to reevaluate their decisions. Perhaps returning the focus to the iconic Spider-Man himself is the key to regaining a foothold. Balancing brand identity while appealing to a new generation of fans is the challenge that lies ahead for Sony—and it won’t be easy.