“Kraven the Hunter” could get declawed in its big screen debut.
The comic book spinoff, set in Sony’s universe of Marvel characters, is targeting a paltry $13 million to $15 million from 3,200 theaters its opening weekend. Based on projections, “Kraven the Hunter” could contend with February’s misfire “Madame Web” ($15.3 million debut) for the ignominious distinction of the lowest start among Sony-produced Marvel adventures. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the eponymous antihero in the R-rated film, which faced a litany of pandemic and strike-related release date delays on its long and winding journey to theaters. “Kraven” cost an upward of $110 million to produce (it was greenlit for $90 but ballooned after last year’s writers and actors strikes), which ended up being considerably more than the $80 million price tag for “Madame Web” but far less than rival studios like Disney or Warner Bros. typically pump into superhero tentpoles. “Kraven,” the first in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe with an R rating, was co-financed by TSG.
Directed by J.C. Chandor, “Kraven the Hunter” explores the origins of Sergei Kravinoff, the comic book character’s alter ego, including his rocky relationship with his crime lord father (Russell Crowe) and his quest to become the greatest hunter. “Kraven” is Sony’s third Spider-Man adjacent superhero adaptation of the year, arriving a few months after October’s “Venom: The Last Dance.” The alien symbiote trilogy, led by Tom Hardy, has proven itself critic-proof and commercially successful, although the third and final movie didn’t live up to the box off heights of its predecessors. Sony has otherwise yet to produce a comic book hit with characters. The studio also stumbled in 2022 with “Morbius,” a vampire-inspired thriller with Jared Leto as the fanged villain — one of Peter Parker’s notorious foes.
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Also this weekend, the Warner Bros. anime fantasy film “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” is aiming for single digits in its opening weekend. The movie, based on J. R. R. Tolkien characters and set 183 years before the events of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, carries a modest $30 million budget. The film, which has mixed reviews, faltered last weekend in its international box office debut with just $2 million from 31 territories. It expands to 42 additional offshore markets over the weekend.
Box office riches weren’t necessarily the impetus for “War of the Rohirrim” getting the greenlight. The movie was developed and fast-tracked to ensure that New Line Cinema didn’t lose the film adaptation rights for Tolkien’s novels while Jackson and the teams behind the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies were working on two new live-action films for 2026 and beyond. The first of those movies, tentatively titled “Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” will be directed by and star Andy Serkis.
Despite the two newcomers, Disney’s “Moana 2” looks to retain the No. 1 spot on domestic box office charts for the third consecutive weekend. It’s aiming to add a mighty $25 million to $28 million in its third frame. The Polynesian-set adventure, which was originally commissioned for streaming, has become a theatrical smash with $300 million in North America and $600 million globally so far.
Meanwhile, Universal’s “Wicked” adaptation will vie with “Kraven the Hunter” for second place. It’s expected to bring in a sizable $18 million to $20 million in its fourth weekend of release. The big-budget musical, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has generated $322 million domestically and $457 million worldwide to date. It’s already the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in domestic box office history, ahead of 1978’s “Grease” ($188.62 million), as well as the second-biggest worldwide stage-to-screen reimagining after 2008’s “Mamma Mia” ($611 million).
Paramount’s “Gladiator II,” the other half of “Glicked” — the portmanteau for the two films with twin release dates and spiritual sequel of “Barbenheimer” — is projected to collect $6 million to $7 million in its fourth frame. The quarter-century-in-the-making sequel to Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning 2000 epic “Gladiator” has earned $132 million in North America and $368.4 million globally.
Both halves of “Glicked” carry big budgets — Universal spent $300 million on two “Wicked” movies while Paramount paid above $250 million for “Gladiator II” — so they require outsized returns to justify their price tags.