Kraven the Hunter’s box office looks worse than anyone expected. The total between Thursday’s previews and Friday’s first day was only $4.7 million.
That’s pretty dismal.
How dismal? Let’s compare Kraven to its Spider-adjacent peers.
- Venom | $32 million | 4,250 theaters | $7,647 per theater
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage | $37 million | 4,225 theaters | $8,856 per theater
- Morbius | $17 million | 4,268 theaters | $4,054 per theater
- Madame Web | $6 million | 4,013 theaters | $1,507 per theater
- Venom: The Last Dance | $22 million | 4,131 theaters | $5,331 per theater
- Kraven the Hunter | $4.7 million | 3,211 theaters | $1,463 per theater
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How Does Kraven Compare To Other Marvel Movies?
I actually went and looked at how many movies have been based on Marvel characters. The answer is 72. At this point, I imagine you are curious if any had a worse opening day than Kraven.
Drum roll, please.
Yes. There have been three Marvel character movies with worse openings than Kraven.
- Howard the Duck | $1.66 million (est.) | 1,554 theaters | $1,087 per theater
- Elektra | $4.4 million | 3,204 theaters | $1,389 per theater
- Punisher: War Zone | $1.66 million | 2,508 theaters | $663 per theater
- Kraven the Hunter | $4.7 million | 3,211 theaters | $1,463 per theater
However, these figures do not include inflation. What happens when we adjust?
- Howard the Duck | $4.8 million (est.) | 1,554 theaters | $3,088 per theater
- Elektra | $7.1 million | 3,204 theaters | $2,215 per theater
- Punisher: War Zone | $2.4 million | 2,508 theaters | $956 per theater
- Kraven the Hunter | $4.7 million | 3,211 theaters | $1,463 per theater
Appropriately contextualized, Kraven is one spot away from having the worst opening day of any Marvel-based movie. The existence of Punisher: War Zone is the only thing between Kraven and infamy.
Sony’s Superhero Problem
To me, that puts into perspective just how badly Sony has fumbled their opportunity to make Marvel films. It’s sad because the first two Spider-Man movies, from 2002 and 2004, were great. But you know what happened with 2007’s Spider-Man 3?
Sony forced director Sam Raimi to include the character Venom. Raimi, on the Nerdist podcast, said:
It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters, so that couldn’t be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man. If the director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it. I think [raising the stakes after Spider-Man 2 ] was the thinking going into it, and I think that’s what doomed us.
Raimi refused to return for Spider-Man 4 because he wanted Vulture to be the villain and Sony demanded Lizard. Here we are, all these years later, and it seems Sony still can’t figure it out.
Audiences are no longer happy for superhero films to simply exist. They now want and expect quality. Poor creative decisions, lack of cohesion, and dialogue that induces fits of eye-rolling will no longer cut it. That’s as true for Sony superhero films as it is for Disney and Warner Bros. Hopefully the studios figure that out sooner rather than later.
