2024 is nearing its end but there's still one last comic book movie to see before the year is over. We are, of course, talking about Kraven the Hunter, a Sony Pictures title that, well, not many people actually appear all that interested in watching.
Next weekend, the R-Rated action-adventure will go head-to-head with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim and it now appears the battle between them is going to be much closer than originally expected.
According to Box Office Theory, Kraven the Hunter looks set to debut in the $16 million - $24 million range. The animated Lord of the Rings movie, however, is eyeing a $15 million - $24 million debut.
While these projections are all over the place at this point, it's clearly going to be a tight race and one which, if interest in both movies doesn't increase, will see them both flop. As it stands, neither is expected to reach #1 as Wicked and Moana 2's supremacy continues ahead of Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 being released on December 20.
Even more worrying for Kraven the Hunter is the fact it's only playing in 3000 locations across North America; both Morbius and Madame Web debuted in upwards of 4000 locations and flopped, so we'd imagine Kraven's story will be a one-and-done despite talk of this being an origin story which sets the stage for him to become a full-blown villain.
A few years ago, it looked like Sony might be setting the stage for a Sinister Six project revolving around characters like Venom, Morbius, The Vulture, and Kraven; now, those plans have fallen apart after fans and moviegoers have rejected the studio and Avi Arad's vision for "Sony's Spider-Man Universe."
As we write this, the only confirmed big screen Marvel projects on the way from Sony are Marvel Studios' Spider-Man 4 and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
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 arrives in theaters on December 13.