Kraven the Hunter arrived in theaters on Thursday evening and, as we head further into the weekend, moviegoers are sharing their thoughts on the latest - and possibly final - movie from Sony's Spider-Man Universe.
Critics have slated the spin-off and fans appear to be doing the same as it's been awarded a catastrophic "C" CinemaScore. For context, this is worse than both Morbius (C+) and Madame Web (C+), putting Kraven the Hunter in the same realm as Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and 2019's Hellboy reboot.
In fact, the only comic book movies to receive a worse score are 2015's Fantastic Four and Joker: Folie à Deux.
Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage remain Sony's best-scoring movies with B+, with Venom: The Last Dance awarded a B- earlier this year. As you might expect, a C score will not be good news for Kraven the Hunter during its opening weekend at the North American box office.
In an update shared by Deadline yesterday evening, Kraven the Hunter was eyeing a $4.7 million Friday and a 3-day debut as low as $12 million. Poor word-of-mouth could see that figure slip into single digits; it all depends on how many fans turn out for the R-Rated origin story.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will likely have a dismal weekend as well as it's eyeing a $5 million - $6 million debut. Still reigning supreme are Moana 2 ($26+ million) and Wicked ($20.5+ million).
"We've got all this source material for this character, villainous, iconic character, with such great works like Kraven's Last Hunt, which is the end of this character's journey, and really kind of work backwards from there," lead star Aaron Taylor-Johnson recently told CBR. "And, really, what was the root of that character's darkest demons?"
"So, there's so much texture there, and complexity, that we was able to have fun with this character. At the heart of this story, there's a family drama, family feud that's happening with father and son, and a protective brother story," the actor continued. "It was kind of great to be able to kind of do that, a deep dive on the character."
Will you be watching Kraven the Hunter in theaters this weekend?
Kraven the Hunter is the action-packed, R-rated, standalone story of how one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
The cast also includes Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe.
Kraven the Hunter is now playing in theaters.