While Sony gave the film a promotional push in recent weeks, it seems the film’s dreadful reviews – including a one-star pan from The Independent, who called it “abysmal” – affected cinemagoers’ desire to watch it: Kraven the Hunter had the worst opening weekend of any Sony-produced Marvel film.
The film pulled in just $11m (£8.7m) in the US and $15m (£11.8m) globally, earning it overall takings of $26m (£20.5m) – an even more meagre amount when considering it cost between $110-$150m (£86.9m-£118.5m). As of 22 December, the film had made just $30.2m (£24m).
These global takings sit behind the equally-as-maligned Morbius, starring Jared Leto, which took $39m. Madame Web was another Spider-Man spin-off released by Sony and, while despised by the critics, it amassed half of its budget back in the opening weekend alone, with takings of $49.1m.
Sony did enjoy big success with the Venom franchise, which became a sleeper hit when it launched in 2018.
The first Venom made $856.1m (£676.2m) with 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage amassing $506.8m (£400.3m).
Meanwhile, the third and final entry in the series, Venom: The Last Dance, has made $475.5m (£375.6m) since being released earlier this year. At the time of writing, this makes it the ninth highest-grossing film of the year.
I know reviews can have an impact, but these kinds of movies tend to thrive or fail more on the advertising and word of mouth. Otherwise, poorly reviewed movies wouldn’t succeed, and plenty of action movies are wildly successful without positive reviews.
Media outlets like to inflate their own self importance. See it all the time.