As Kraven bombs, fans beg Sony to give up Spider-Man

“Sony should lose the rights to Spiderman,” it said the top story on the Marvel Studios subreddit on Sunday night. Despite punctuation errors, most seemed to agree that Sony Pictures’ experimental Spidey-less Marvel franchise-esque thing didn’t work as well as Garfield Without Garfield.

And contrary to most fan outrage, they have the receipts: this weekend, Kraven the Huntera vehicle for Spider-Man’s big game hunting villain, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, flamed out in spectacular fashion, and earned only $11 million at the US box office. After a number of delays – Sony placed the film from January 2023 to October 2023 to August 2024 and then to its final release date of December 13 – the film opened third, among the reigning champions of Moana 2 And Bad.

It’s another brutal L for Sony, which has struggled to generate interest in Marvel films that are only superficially related to Spider-Man. The studio got off to a good start when it cast Tom Hardy as Venom and basically let him do whatever he wanted under the guidance of studio-friendly director Ruben Fleischer. In 2018, Poison was a huge hit, earning $213.5 million in the US and $856.1 million worldwide. But the franchise has always been haunted by its two halves: the chaotic Venom comedy that seems to be exploding from its star, and the need to be something bigger and more Marvel-esque. This year Venom: The Last Dance earned mediocre reviews and dwindling box office receipts ($139 million domestic, $475 million worldwide), and everyone involved seemed… a little over it? And that’s the franchise that worked for Sony.

Less successful was Sony’s attempt to insert other Spider-Man-adjacent villains into the cinematic universe and the general zeitgeist. Morbiusthe vampire thriller Jared Leto released in 2022 made just $167 million worldwide – just over Venom: The Last Dance‘s catch in the US alone. This year Mrs. Webas incredible a theatrical experience as it was, it grossed $100 million worldwide (and how much of that was the result of tongue-in-cheek viewing versus actual interest is unclear). Kraven opened for less than Mrs. Websetting a record as the lowest opening weekend for one of Sony’s Marvel films.

Sony owns the film rights to Spider-Man since 1999 and put them to good use, first with Sam Raimi’s hit 2000s trilogy, then with the epically scaled Amazing Spider-Man films starring Andrew Garfield, and finally moving into animation with the blockbuster Spider-Verse films were also Oscar winners. Although rumor mongers are suggesting there that Sony could sell the Marvel rights after the failure of Morbius, Mrs. WebAnd Kravenremember: the company has Beyond the Spider-Verse cooks at the animation studio (although a 2025 release seems unlikely) and is currently filming a live-action Spider-Man Noir series for Amazon, based on Nicolas Cage’s character from In the Spider-Verse.

Also part of the rights package is the deal Sony has made with Marvel Studios to have Tom Holland’s Peter Parker play in the MCU. The deal almost fell apart after two standalone films and the character’s Avengers appearances, but thanks in part to Holland, his version of Spidey lives on, and he’s set for a fourth Spider-Man film and an appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars.

Why doesn’t Sony just put Spider-Man in a Venom movie? Or go straight to a Sinister Six movie with Spider-Man as the ‘villain’? According to recent reportingit has nothing to do with the Marvel Studios deal – Sony could put Peter Parker in anything. But there are internal questions about how to use Holland’s Spider-Man specifically, how many Spider-Mans could be floating around the universe(s), and – after the success of Venom – the hope that the studio could build an extensive franchise success without leaning. too much like its flagship superhero. But after that Kraven the Hunteryou might expect a “Venom vs. Spider-Man” pitch will emerge through the cracks of Marvel Studios’ grand plans. Fans may beg, but who could imagine Sony giving up on Spider-Man (and all the character that brings)?

Kraven the Hunter is currently in theaters.