To say this was not the result the Sony Pictures hierarchy wanted would be an understatement. Kraven The Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson arrived after the recent solid run by Venom: The Last Dance, however the latest in Sony’s patchy pipeline of Spider-Man Universe spin-offs disappointed, opening in third place on an estimated $11m from 3,000 locations.
That means J C Chandor’s R-rated action adventure, whose $110m budget swelled from an initial $90m due to strike and pandemic-related delays, has delivered the worst opening weekend ever by any Sony-Marvel release, outdoing even Madame Web, which has endured infamy since it opened in February on $15.3m and went on to finish on $43.8m.
The antihero origins story featuring Russell Crowe as Kraven’s gangster father earned a C CinemaScore from audiences. Sony Pictures executives put on a brave face on Sunday morning and said they expected the film to play through the lucrative holiday period.
The reality is, with the Venom franchise seemingly at an end, motion picture group head Tom Rothman will be itching to return to the core Spider-Man property and the release of the fourth Tom Holland tentpole in July 2026.
Sony Pictures fully owns the Spider-Man property and has some 900 characters to play with. Rothman and his executives urgently need to build a hit around new characters.
Turning to the bigger picture, overall weekend box office offered encouragement and reportedly finished some 16% ahead of the year-ago session. The weekend started a mere 4.8% behind 2023 at the same stage and there are still releases of Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 to come this month.
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ (WDAS) Moana 2 held on to number one for its third consecutive weekend, earning $26.6m from 4,000 locations to boost the running total to $337.5m, while worldwide stands at $717m. The South Sea islands adventure is poised to overtake Zootopia on $341m to rank as the third highest WDAS release of all time in North America. In second place, Universal’s Broadway adaptation Wicked added $22.5m from 3,689 for a $359m tally after four weekends.
Ranking fourth was Ridley Scott’s adventure epic Gladiator II on $7.8m through Paramount from 3,224 sites. After four weekends the sequel to Scott’s 2000 Oscar winner has amassed $145.9m. Amazon MGM Studios holiday tentpole Red One ranks sixth on $92.6m after five weekends and debuted on Prime Video on December 12.
Warner Bros’ animation $30m The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim, which takes place well before events in J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, arrived in fifth place with a $4.6m debut in 2,602 sites.
Indian crime thriller Pushpa: The Rule – Part 2 starring Allu Arjun dropped three slots to number seven, earning $3.7m for $13m after two weekends through AA Films.
Luca Guadagnino’s William S. Burroughs adaptation Queer starring Daniel Craig climbed seven places to number 11 in its third weekend as A24 expanded the footprint from 47 to 460 sites and the drama added $790,000 for $1.9m.
There were debuts for three notable awards season hopefuls. Paramount opened its newsroom drama September 5 at number 21 on $89,000 from seven sites. Amazon MGM Studios opened the reform school drama Nickel Boys at number 24 on $60,844 in two locations. Director RaMell Ross has already been honoured by the Gothams and several critics groups.
The Last Showgirl starring Pamela Anderson opened at number 27 on $50,300 through Roadside Attractions in a single location for one of the top per-screen averages of the year. Palme d’Or winner Anora and The Seed Of The Sacred Fig stand at $13.5m and $137,494 after nine and three weekends in release respectively through A24.
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