Kraven the Hunter is reportedly the final instalment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and continues the sequence’s unfortunate track record.
In The Independent’s one-star review of Kraven, critic Clarisse Loughrey summarised the experience as “strange and sloppy” - much like the rest of the SSU.
The Spider-Man spin-off films were intended as Sony’s reply to the wildly successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, focusing on the superhero’s vast array of villains.
However, none of the movies have included the web-slinger (save for one post-credits scene), a markedly odd decision, especially given the name of the series.
The Venom movies are the only real financial success, with the final instalment,The Last Dance becoming one of the year's highest-grossing movies.
Yet, even the returns from Venom were diminishing. Budgets for the trilogy rose from $100m to $110m, then $120m for The Last Dance, as box office numbers fell from $856m to $506m, to $473m.
Neither where the movie’s a critical success, one glance at Rotten Tomatoes will tell you as much. The ratings for the previous movies in the franchise are listed below.:
Venom - 30 per cent
Venom: Let There Be Carnage - 58 per cent
Morbius - 15 per cent
Madame Web - 11 per cent
Venom: The Last Dance - 41 per cent
Kraven the Hunter - 14 per cent
This means that every single film in the franchise has a “Rotten” rating on the aggregator website.
Morbius did find some notable critical engagement. It was nominated for worst movie, worst screenplay and worst director at the Razzie Awards - a satirical awards show celebrating the year’s cinematic stinkers.
Kraven is not projected to fare much better than the rest of the SSU. It is currently projected to make a measly $15m on its opening weekend.
This will be the lowest-grossing start to any SSU movie to date. With its hefty $110m budget Kraven will have to hope for a miracle if it wants to break even.
Making matters even more difficult, Kraven will have stiff competition in the cinema, which comes at a jam-packed time of the year.
It will have to contend with Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, Moana 2, Wicked, and the 10-year anniversary IMAX re-release of Interstellar, which has been a runaway success.
The SSU has been an unfortunate outcome for one of the most widely beloved superhero IPs. The end of our Kraven review seems a fitting farewell: “Requiescat in pace, Sony’s Marvel universe – you really made people’s brains hurt.”
