Kraven was considered for film appearances several times before Sony Pictures became interested in a standalone film for the character, as part of its new shared universe, in 2017. Wenk was hired in August 2018, with Marcum and Holloway joining later. Chandor entered negotiations to direct in August 2020 and was confirmed in May 2021 when Taylor-Johnson was cast. Additional cast members joined in early 2022 before filming took place from late March until mid-June in London, Iceland, and Glasgow.
Following two years of delays, Kraven the Hunter was released by Columbia Pictures (via Sony Pictures Releasing) in the United States on December 13, 2024. The film became a box-office bomb, grossing $58.8 million worldwide on a budget of $110–130 million and received generally negative reviews from critics.[5]
Plot
Following the death of his mother, Sergei Kravinoff and his half-brother Dmitri are taken by their father Nikolai to prepare to take over his drug trafficking operations. During a hunting trip in Ghana, Sergei is heavily injured protecting his brother from a lion. A girl named Calypso heals him with a serum and calls for rescue, leaving a tarot card behind. Sergei soon discovers his physical attributes have become animalistic. When Nikolai reveals he killed the lion to teach his sons a lesson, a disgusted Sergei flees to a sanctuary owned by his mother in Russia.
Sixteen years later, Sergei, now going by Kraven, is a vigilante who hunts criminals. After killing an arms trafficker in a Russian prison, Kraven travels to London for Dmitri's birthday. Their reunion is short-lived when mercenaries capture Dmitri and evade Kraven's pursuit. When Nikolai refuses to pay the ransom, Kraven tracks down Calypso, now working as a lawyer, and convinces her to help. Meanwhile, Dmitri meets the man behind his kidnapping, Aleksei Sytsevich, who took part in an experiment granting him the strength and visage of a rhinoceros. Aleksei proposes an alliance to overthrow Nikolai. Discovering Kraven's connection to Dmitri, Aleksei lures him to a monastery in Turkey, but Kraven survives the ambush. Aleksei is then approached by the Foreigner, an assassin who uses ocular hypnosis to disorient his targets, with an offer to kill Kraven.
Tracking Kraven and Calypso to his sanctuary and using Dmitri as bait, Aleksei and the Foreigner ambush Kraven. Drugging him with neurotoxin, the Foreigner attacks Kraven but Calypso kills him with a crossbow and revives Kraven. He then uses a buffalo stampede to trap Aleksei, who, despite turning into the Rhino and briefly overpowering Kraven, is killed. Discerning that Nikolai was the one who revealed his existence to Aleksei, Kraven tracks his father for answers; Nikolai reveals that he knew Aleksei was targeting him and manipulated his sons to remove him. Kraven steals ammunition so that his father will be killed by a bear.
One year later, Kraven visits Dmitri and is shocked that he has willingly succeeded their father's criminal empire. Having gained shapeshifting abilities from the doctor who experimented on Aleksei, Dmitri discovers what happened to his father and disowns Kraven, stating that despite his claims of being morally superior, he and Nikolai were the same: hunters searching for their next great trophy. At home, Kraven discovers a note from Nikolai along with a vest made from the skin of the killed lion from long ago, which he puts on.
Richard Wenk was hired to write a screenplay for Kraven the Hunter in August 2018, a month after the successful release of Sony's The Equalizer 2 (2018), which he wrote. The project was billed as "the next chapter" of Sony's shared universe.[7][30] Wenk was tasked with introducing Kraven to audiences and figuring out which character he could hunt in the film since Spider-Man, considered to be Kraven's "white whale" in the comic books, was unlikely to appear due to the MCU deal. Whether the film would target adult audiences would depend on the audience response to Venom's darker approach.[7] In October, Wenk said he was "cracking" the story and tone of the film before beginning scripting. He intended to adhere to the character's comic book lore, including by featuring Kraven fighting Spider-Man. Wenk said Sony intended to adapt the Kraven's Last Hunt (1987) comic book storyline, and there were ongoing discussions over whether to do that in this film or a later one. Wenk compared the latter approach to the two-part film Kill Bill (2003/2004). He expressed interest in having Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua join the film; Fuqua considered directing Sony's Marvel-based film Morbius (2022), and would decide on directing Kraven based on the script.[31] Sony confirmed that a film featuring Kraven was in development in March 2019.[32]
Jon Watts, the director of Homecoming and its sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), expressed interest in featuring Kraven in a potential third Spider-Man film set within the MCU;[33] Watts pitched a film pitting Peter Parker / Spider-Man against Kraven to Spider-Man star Tom Holland, but this idea was abandoned in favor of the multiversal story of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).[34] By August 2020, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had re-written the script, after doing uncredited rewrites for Morbius.[35][36] At that time, J. C. Chandor entered talks to direct the film,[35] while Matt Tolmach, Avi Arad, and David Householter were set as producers.[35][37] Chandor was confirmed as director in May 2021, when Aaron Taylor-Johnson was cast to star as Kraven,[6] and signed on to portray the character in multiple films.[6] Sony had previously approached actors such as Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, John David Washington and Adam Driver for the role,[38] but Sony executives moved quickly to cast Taylor-Johnson after they were "blow[n] away" by early footage of him in the film Bullet Train (2022). Taylor-Johnson began negotiations shortly after an initial phone call with Chandor and Tolmach.[39][40][41] By July, Jodie Turner-Smith was reportedly in talks to portray Kraven's love interest, Calypso.[42] That October, Holland said he and Pascal had discussed him potentially reprising his role as Spider-Man in the film.[43]
The film was greenlit with a production budget of $90 million, but due to the 2023 writers and actors strike the costs increased.[2] The final cost was reportedly as high $130 million, but Variety disputed this figure, estimating it cost "upward of $110 million".[3]
Pre-production
Russell Crowe was cast in an undisclosed role in early February 2022. The Hollywood Reporter noted that many of the main characters in the film would be members of Kraven's family, with Crowe potentially portraying Kraven's father.[19] By then, Kodi Smit-McPhee had been offered the role of Chameleon, Kraven's half-brother, but declined due to a scheduling conflict.[44] Turner-Smith was also confirmed to have not been cast as Calypso.[45] Later in February, Fred Hechinger joined the cast, reportedly as Chameleon.[14] In March, Ariana DeBose joined the cast, reportedly in the Calypso role,[12]Alessandro Nivola was cast as a villain,[46] and Christopher Abbott was cast as the film's main villain, which was reported to be the Foreigner.[18] Nivola said he joined the film to work with Chandor again after A Most Violent Year (2014).[47] Taylor-Johnson was preparing for stunt training with Chandor in England, just outside of London, for the following couple of weeks.[48]
Filming
Filming occurred in Iceland in early February 2022,[49][50] at Lake Mývatn, using the working titleSafari.[49]TrueNorth Productions handled the production services,[49][51] with an 80-person crew involved in the shooting over two days.[49]Principal photography began on March 20, 2022,[52] in London, England, under the working title Spiral.[53]Ben Davis served as cinematographer after doing so for several MCU films.[50][54][better source needed]Levi Miller joined the cast in April,[55] and DeBose confirmed that she was portraying Calypso in the film a month later when she had already been filming in London.[13] In mid-June, Taylor-Johnson revealed that he had wrapped filming and stated that the film was shot entirely on location,[10] which he said "add[ed] something really beautiful" to the personal story, and called it important for the authenticity of the character.[41] Nivola also wrapped filming at that time,[56] and said the characters' physical abilities in the film were grounded in reality, while Chandor described it as depicting the "most incredible Olympic athlete you've ever seen".[47] Filming also took place in Glasgow, Scotland.[50]
Post-production
In August 2022, Nivola revealed that the film would include a time jump and that his character would physically transform in the third act, for which he did not use any visual effects. He described it as a "classic villain role" with "complex psychology and personal history to draw on".[47] The following month, Hechinger confirmed that he was portraying Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon.[15] Later in September, the film's release date was delayed to October 6, 2023, from January 13, 2023.[57] In April 2023, Crowe and Nivola were confirmed to be respectively portraying Kraven's father and the character Rhino. Taylor-Johnson confirmed that the film would receive an R rating by the Motion Picture Association, the first SSU film and the first Spider-Man related project overall to do so.[58][16] In July, the film's release date was delayed to August 30, 2024, due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[59] In August 2023, the film's final writing credits were given: Wenk received sole credit for the story and shared credit for the screenplay with Marcum and Holloway, while off-screen additional literary credit was given to Donny Cates, Chris Bremner, Chandor, Adamma Ebo, Adanne Ebo, Zak Olkewicz, and Oren Uziel.[60]
In April 2024, the film's release date was further delayed to December 13, 2024,[61] to avoid competition from other franchise films releasing around the prior August date. Tolmach also attributed the release delay as a strategic reflection of Sony's excitement for the film.[62] Chandor felt that the delays allowed him to "sharpen" the characters and "tighten" the plot, deeming the reshoots strategic and effective. Despite the disastrous underperformance of Madame Web (2024), Sony felt optimistic that Kraven the Hunter would be more in line with the Venom films, with Chandor opining that the film would surprise the audience once it releases.[63]Craig Wood serves as the film's editor.[64]
Sony debuted the first footage from the film in a "show reel" of the studio's upcoming films at CinemaCon in April 2022.[66] The first trailer was showcased during Sony's panel at CinemaCon in April 2023.[16] On June 19, 2023, the trailer leaked online and was subsequently followed by the official poster and a red band trailer the same day.[67][68][37] The second trailer was released on August 14, 2024, featuring the song "The Man Comes Around" (2002) by Johnny Cash. Ellise Shafer of Variety said Kraven "shows no mercy" in the trailer with his gruesome methods, feeling it "transforms [Kraven] from your average hitman into the fur-wearing baddie" the character is known as in the comics.[69] In November, a commercial aired during the 2024 NFL season featuring members of the Baltimore Ravens, particularly kicker Justin Tucker who suggested renaming the team the "Baltimore Kravens".[70] Sony Pictures released the first eight minutes of the film on its YouTube channel on December 2. Bradley Russell at Total Film felt releasing the footage for free a week ahead of the film's release was a surprise, but also believed it was a "bold tactic that might just sell" audiences to watch the film.[71]
Release
Kraven the Hunter was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2024, in IMAX and premium large formats (PLFs).[61] It was previously scheduled for release on January 13, 2023,[6] October 6, 2023,[57] and August 30, 2024.[59]
Reception
Box office
As of January 7, 2025[update], Kraven the Hunter has grossed $23.8million in the United States and Canada, and $35million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $58.8million.[4][72]
In the United States and Canada, Kraven the Hunter was released alongside The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and was projected to gross $13–15 million from 3,211 theaters in its opening weekend.[2][73] The film made $4.7 million on its first day, and went on to debut to $11 million, finishing third behind holdovers Moana 2 and Wicked.[74]
Critical response
The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics.[75] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 16% of 140 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Claiming no trophies with its rote story and shoddy special effects, Kraven the Hunter turns out to be a paper tiger."[76]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 35 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[77] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 59% overall positive score.[74][78]
Lyvie Scott of Inverse wrote, "A clunky, crowded script, muddy visual effects, and glaringly obvious ADR bog down a promising premise. It's not camp enough to become a cult classic, and it lacks the conviction to carry its most ambitious ideas to the finish line."[79]The Daily Telegraph's Tim Robey gave it one out of five stars, writing, "Last orders can't come soon enough for the whole parade of supervillains, superheroes, or however they're now choosing to identify. This is rock bottom."[80]
Ian Freer of Empire gave it two out of five stars, writing, "This all feels a long way from Chandor's glory days of Margin Call and All Is Lost. Save the occasional flourish, Kraven the Hunter is limp, tired, uninvolving superhero fare."[81]Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian also gave it 2 out of 5 stars, saying that Chandor "does a serviceable job, but the delirious craziness that once made the superhero genre so watchable is not really in evidence. Kraven is a so-so character in a so-so film and the superhero revival is as far away as ever."[82]
The A.V. Club's Jesse Hassenger gave the film a B- grade, writing, "while all of the previous movies in this barely-series seemed scrambled together in a panic, Chandor's movie seems scrambled together with a great deal of confidence and a bit of style."[83] Adam Graham of The Detroit News said the film "is far from the cream of the crop in the superhero space, but non-discerning comic book fans may appreciate the spoils of this bounty" and gave it a C+ grade.[84]
Other responses
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra blamed critics for Kraven the Hunter's box office failure, insisting that audiences who saw it loved the film, comparing it to the Netflix viewing numbers that Madame Web (2024) received.[85] Alessandro Nivola was more neutral, adding that while his experience filming the movie was "joyful", he figured that the overall quality came down to the editing. One particularly notable sequence where Nivola's character makes an odd guttural scream was acknowledged by the actor as being Internet meme-worthy. He had made what he referred to as a "silent scream", but the sound was changed in post.[86]
Future
Chandor was open to making a second and final film featuring the character, based on Kraven's Last Hunt and setting Kraven against Spider-Man. "It's obviously very tragic and sad… but the character we're trying to create is one who could realistically, if this film is a success, end with Last Hunt.[87] Similarly, Taylor-Johnson expressed interest in a Sinister Six crossover film.[88] In December 2024, following the film's projected financial failure, it was reported that Kraven would be the final film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, ending any chance for a sequel or crossover,[89][90] with a later report from Variety specifically clarifying Kraven to be the last non-Venom film in the franchise.[91]
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