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What ‘Kraven the Hunter’s Failure Says About the Sony Universe

Where Does the Sony Universe Go From Here?

The disappointing reception to Sony’s latest Kraven the Hunter might be the final stab they get at ever making this strange Spider-Man villain world work. It’s probably for the best after all this time and so many sub-par disconnected attempts. The reason why their universe failed is down to more than just superhero fatigue; it’s a more specific understanding of what makes an ‘anti-hero’ story work. Their projects have been tonally jumbled from the start, and Kraven the Hunter hopefully providing Sony with their last gasp is an ultimately telling sign of so much more wrong with modern filmmaking nuance in the mainstream.
An anti-hero story or a story about a classic villain is admittedly difficult to tell. The Venom movies tried to overcome this problem with a comedic approach, which worked, but it took the sting out of an otherwise menacing character. The entire allure of Venom is his odd place in the Spider-Man canon, but that was quickly taken away. Now, with Kraven the Hunter, it feels like it was only made because of the vague link to the web-slinger, not because it had anything unique to offer.

Release Date

December 13, 2024

Runtime

127 Minutes

Cast

Aaron Taylor-Johnson
, Russell Crowe
, Fred Hechinger
, Ariana DeBose
, Christopher Abbott
, Alessandro Nivola
, Levi Miller
, Chi Lewis-Parry
, Billy Barratt
, Jessica Zhou
, Michael Shaeffer
, Dritan Kastrati
, Greg Kolpakchi
, Elander Moore
, Filiz Fairweather
, Duran Fulton Brown
, Alex Skarbek
, Rachel Handshaw
, Preslav Shipkaliev
, Murat Seven
, Robert Ryan

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Read Our Review
What ‘Kraven the Hunter’s Failure Says About the Sony Universe

For as long as they’ve been around, Sony has been left playing catch-up with the leftovers of a genre far ahead of them. They’ve never been given a chance to do something for themselves instead of fitting into a constrictive mold that isn’t exactly that sturdy. It comes down to more than just superhero fatigue. Instead, its audiences are bored with the lack of proper experimentation. The superhero genre has tried to branch out into darker versions of itself, giving directors creative control and, more often than not, finding success.

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But at the end of it all, it simply isn’t enough to sustain a genre that expanded so rapidly. Kraven the Hunter comes at the mid-point of a general superhero decline, and by this point, we need something new, not something that stinks of franchise-led decision-making that ruined Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Growing cynicism and awareness of this type of thing suggest that studios have gotten too smart to try and blatantly sell people slop. In their defense, Sony had no choice, it felt like if they didn’t play by the big kid’s rules they couldn’t play at all.
Where Does the Sony Universe Go From Here?

Honestly, this is anybody’s guess. The superhero movie cycle has changed, but it hasn’t slowed down. The generic nature of Kraven the Hunter isn’t a surprise, but we’ve had so many average movies in this genre in the past few years that maybe it’s here to stay. This wouldn’t be a bad thing, but there comes a point where meaningful change has to happen, not limiting this to one movie at a time and then forgetting it. A darker style doesn’t have to be the answer, and not everything should be murky and broody. It just shouldn’t feel so blatant that studios are still prioritizing IP over everything. This will never change, but Kraven the Hunter feels like something that would’ve come out 10 years ago, which is not a good thing.

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Why we haven’t gotten better at hiding laziness is a question that will never be answered, but Sony needs to distinguish themselves in a crowded field if they want to succeed going forward. This goes beyond style but substance, too. As for Aaron Taylor-Johnson? He will likely be fine, making up for the release of Kraven the Hunter with his other December project, Nosferatu, receiving rave reviews before its Christmas release. It looks like his chance to be the next James Bond is still in the cards. Kraven the Hunter had the potential to be something better than it turned out to be, but it failed because the studio behind it jumped into the genre head-first without thinking about how they were going to make interesting movies.
It seemed like those repercussions had slowly softened over the years, but all this time later, they can still be heard reverberating throughout the modern movie industry. And today, as we get more fed up with obvious laziness, the echoes are louder than ever. Kraven the Hunter is in cinemas now.