In 2024, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe released three spin-offs, but critics didn’t like any of them. Kraven the Hunter joined movies like Venom, Morbius, and Madame Web, earning the lowest score yet in a franchise that hasn’t been very well-received.
Kraven the Hunter has the worst Rotten Tomatoes debut among all Sony Spider-Man Universe movies so far. The film, which tells the origin story of the supervillain, started with a very low 15% rating based on 55 reviews. This score might change as more reviews are added, but it’s currently lower than 2022’s Morbius (19%) and 2024’s Madame Web (23%). Since the movie hasn’t been released in theaters yet, there’s no official audience score available.
Kraven the Hunter is the sixth and final movie in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe for now, and it’s the only one with an R rating. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven, along with Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Christopher Abbott, Alessandro Nivola, and Russell Crowe. J.C. Chandor directed the movie, and Richard Wenk wrote the script.
Tim Robey from Daily Telegraph described Kraven the Hunter as “a terrible movie that hits a new low.” He mentioned that while Aaron Taylor-Johnson looks impressive, the character lacks charm and humor. Ian Freer from Empire called J.C. Chandor’s take on the superhero genre “mostly dull and ridiculous.” He criticized the story as being poorly written and failing to embrace the fun side of the character. However, Freer noted that the film has a brutal edge that most superhero movies don’t, and Taylor-Johnson’s superhero look fits well, though the weak script doesn’t give him much to work with.
Julian Lytle from Riotus gave Kraven the Hunter a positive review, saying,
I genuinely enjoyed this movie, not because it’s so bad it’s good, but because it’s actually entertaining.
While he admitted the script isn’t great, he felt the film “scratches an itch better than most superhero movies.” Cain Nobles-Davies from FILMINK praised the action scenes and said,
Kraven the Hunter fits well alongside the Venom sequels as one of the stronger movies in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
Related: Kraven the Hunter’s ScreenX Poster Teases the R-Rated Film’s Bloody Violence
Howard Waldstein from CBR described Kraven the Hunter as “a messy movie that doesn’t have a clear identity.” He pointed out that the film lacked the right script and direction to make it work. With a massive $130 million budget, the movie would need to earn at least $260 million worldwide just to break even. Unfortunately, it seems like Kraven the Hunter lost the battle before it even started.
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has released several movies based on popular characters, and a few have done fairly well. Tom Hardy’s Venom trilogy found some success, with the last movie, Venom: The Last Dance, earning a “rotten” 41% critics‘ score but an 81% audience rating. The film recovered its budget and became the eighth highest-grossing movie of the year, making $479.5 million worldwide.
Morbius became a huge internet meme, and the buzz around it helped the movie earn a 71% audience score, even though critics gave it just 15%. Despite the low reviews, it made back its money during its time in theaters and even after its re-release. Madame Web, on the other hand, wasn’t as lucky. It struggled at the box office and faced a lot of criticism.
The film starring Dakota Johnson has a very poor 11% rating from critics and a 55% score from the audience. This makes Kraven the Hunter the worst movie in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, though without an audience score to compare, its low debut has many people glad to hear that Sony might stop making spin-offs and focus on the character everyone wants: Spider-Man.
Kraven the Hunter hits theaters on December 13.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes