So, how are we feeling about Kraven the Hunter right now? The latest of Sony’s Marvel movies and the next following Venom: The Last Dance, it’s tough to get excited over the latest attempt to turn a Spidey villain into a box office hero. With only a couple of weeks until the movie hits on December 13th, Sony is going all out to spread the word by releasing the first eight minutes of the movie now.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who already played Quicksilver in the MCU but whatever, stars as Kraven, the ultimate big game hunter. The footage, which begins with a song that sounds a lot like an early scene from The Hunt for Red October, shows Kraven being transported to a Russian prison, boasting to a really ugly cellmate that he’ll only be there three days tops, getting harassed by other prisoners, then busting out using his animal instincts and reflexes. It’s fine, but hardly as violent as the trailers have shown the film to be.
Typically, a studio will release the opening minutes of a movie soon after its released, but not before. So why do it this time? It’s possible they have the utmost confidence in director JC Chandor, who is generally a very good filmmaker, to make a high-quality superhero movie. I think the most likely reason is they want/need Kraven the Hunter to be a hit after public failures Morbius and Madame Web. Even Venom 3 is the lowest-earning of the franchise at this point.
Kraven the Hunter also stars Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe, Gladiator II looney Fred Hechinger, Christopher Abbott, and Alessandro Nivola. The cast is pretty great. I would argue that we still have no clear idea what the heck the movie is about, something that has been a problem for Sony in the past.
