Kraven The Hunter Movie: Release Date, Story Details & Cast

Kraven the Hunter, set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), was in development for several years, even before the debut of Tom Holland as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After years of delays, filming for the Sony movie finally commenced in 2022 in Europe. Kraven the Hunter seems to be the final film in Sony's live-action slate of upcoming Marvel movies centered on the origin stories of Spider-Man villains, which include the Venom trilogy, starring Tom Hardy in the titular role, Morbius, starring Jared Leto as the Living Vampire, and Dakota Johnson's Madame Web.

After the release of Morbius brought the second of Spider-Man's villains to the big screen, Sony was eager to get the ball rolling on Kraven the Hunter. While Sergei Kravinoff is one of Spider-Man's deadliest foes, he's also one of the most unique, with a fun premise that separates him from other villains of the webcrawler. As such, the impressive hunter seemed like the perfect choice to receive a live-action adaptation in theaters, but the final product seems to tell a different story.

Kraven The Hunter Box Office And Critical Reception

A Critical & Commercial Failure

Given the talent both behind and in front of the screen for Kraven the Hunter, hopes that the film would fare a bit better than other Sony Spider-Man Universe movies outside the Venom trilogy were in vain, as Kraven the Hunter failed to ignite the box office and was a dud with critics, garnering the same measly 15% Rotten Tomatoes score as Morbius and just slightly higher than the 11% score of Madame Web.

Kraven the Hunter's box office performance is a nightmare for Sony and what could very well be the last film in their shared universe. In fact, the opening weekend of $11 million domestic is $4 million lower than Madame Web's and might fail to reach $100 million worldwide total when it officially ends its run. That would make Kraven the Hunter the worst performing film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe.

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Kraven The Hunter Cast

Aaron Taylor-Johnson Works Alongside Some Oscar Winners

While Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the main focus in Kraven the Hunter as the titular character, a number of other Spider-Man characters, and villains, have significant roles within the film. Most notably, are Russell Crowe as Kraven's father, Nikolai Kravinoff, Ariana DeBose as Calypso, Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Smerdyakov (Chameleon), Christopher Abbot as The Foreigner, and Alessandro Nivola as the major Spider-Man villain, the Rhino. Still, Taylor-Johnson is the standout throughout the film, which is understandable.

The full main cast is as follows:

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Kraven The Hunter Trailers

Watch The Trailers Here

Kraven the Hunter's trailer was released June 19, 2023, and provided a better understanding of what the movie itself would be about. The trailer promised an origin story for Kraven the Hunter, placing itself alongside Venom, Morbius, and Madame Web as origin stories within Sony's Spider-Man Universe. The official red band trailer also highlighted the R-rating of the film, a first for Sony's universe.

The subsequent trailers released after have shown much of the same, with the marketing focused on the edgier, more violent aspects of the film, trying to set itself apart from the various PG-13 movies in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. One particularly interesting aspect of the trailers was the confirmation that Rhino would be appearing in the movie for Kraven to go up against.

Prior to the film being released, Sony uploaded an 8-minute sequence in Kraven the Hunter, a last-ditch marketing effort to garner a bit more excitement heading into the film. While it didn't work out in their favor, it was an interesting choice for Sony to make.

Kraven The Hunter Ending And Spoilers

Showcases Kraven's Origin Story

Most of Kraven the Hunter is concerned with working through the origins of Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Sergei Kravinoff, his relationship with his father, and how he eventually becomes the iconic villain. It also shows how his brother, Dmitri Smerdyakov, and how he became the Chameleon, the first villain ever to appear in a Spider-Man comic. By the end of the film, Kraven has taken down Rhino and indirectly killed his father. By putting on the iconic lion jacket, Kraven's character settles into something much darker than before, and sets him up to take on Spider-Man down the road.

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Could Sony's Spider-Man Universe Continue After Kraven The Hunter?

Kraven The Hunter Seems Likely To Be The Last Movie

Sony's Spider-Man Universe had a busy 2024, releasing Madame Web, Venom: The Last Dance, and Kraven the Hunter over the course of the year. Despite a packed schedule, there were no other films in production after Kraven the Hunter, opening up the discussion of whether Sony's attempted shared universe would actually continue. Unfortunately, it seems like Kraven the Hunter will be the last film set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, which never actually featured the iconic Marvel hero in any capacity.

During the promotion of Venom: The Last Dance, Knull was touted as the next big-bad for the shared universe, but it seems like those plans might fall through, unless he is incorporated into the next Spider-Man trilogy in some capacity. As for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, it seems the only way he could reasonably return to the role of Kraven is by being featured in a Spider-Man film. At the end of the day, Kraven the Hunter was just the next failure in Sony's Spider-Man Universe that never actually succeeded outside of Venom.

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