Sony’s first R-rated comic book movie Kraven the Hunter bombed in its domestic box office debut this weekend, hunting down only $11 million to come in third behind Thanksgiving blockbusters Moana 2 and Wicked.
Kraven supplanted Madame Web to rank as the worst start ever for a Sony-produced Marvel comic book movie (the studio has rights to the Spider-Man universe), and one of the worst for any pic based on a Marvel character, not adjusted for inflation.
Reviewers ravaged the film, while audiences slapped it with a C CinemaScore. The pic also missed its target overseas, grossing a mere $15 million from 60 markets for a global debut of $26 million.
Kraven, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular antihero, wasn’t cheap, costing $110 million to make instead of an intended $90 million because of pandemic and strike-related delays. Its release date was also pushed several times. Russell Crowe, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger and Alessandro Nivola co-star in J.C. Chandor’s action-thriller about the vigilante son of a Russian gangster who has incredible strength.
Kraven is more bad news for Sony following Madame Web as it tries to mine the hundreds of Spider-Man-related characters it has the rights to. Sony insiders have marketed the film as an R-rated action pic akin to such titles as John Wick, versus a comic book movie.
The weekend’s other new major studio release, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, is looking at a fifth or sixth place with around $5 million. The Warner Bros. and New Line animated feature takes place far before the events of Lord of the Rings. The movie earned a B CinemaScore. It took in $4 million at the international box office for a foreign total of $5.7 million and $10.3 million globally.
Elsewhere, Moana 2 and Wicked continued to save the day and top the domestic chart.
Disney Animation’s Moana sequel sped past the $700 million mark globally as it heads for the $1 billion mark. Domestically, it stayed number one in its third weekend with $26.6 million for a domestic tally of $337.5 million and north of $717 million globally.
Wicked sang past the $500 million mark in worldwide ticket sales in its fourth weekend, including earning another $22.5 million domestically.
Thanksgiving release Gladiator II placed fourth in North America with another $7.8 million for a domestic tally of $146 million. Overall, weekend revenue was up 16 percent over the same frame last year thanks to the strength this year’s trio of Thanksgiving tentpoles.
Globally, the Gladiator sequel is celebrating nearing the $400 million mark. The movie has earned a hefty $252.6 million internationally for worldwide cume of $398.5 million through Sunday.
Other weekend highlights: The rerelease of Christopher Nolan and Paramount’s Interstellar in 321 Imax locations came in seventh with $3.3 million.
And at the awards box office, A24’s Queer cracked the top 10 with $791,000 as the specialty pic expanded into a total of 460 cinemas for a early domestic tally of $1.9 million. Amazon MGM Studios’ Nickel Boys opened in two theaters in Los Angeles and New York for a promising per-location average of $30,422, while Paramount’s September 5 opened in seven locations for a solid location average of $12,714.
Dec. 15, 8 a.m. Updated with domestic and global numbers.
This story was originally published Dec. 14 at 11:18 a.m.
