‘Kraven the Hunter’ flops while ‘Moana 2’ tops the box office again

[December 16, 2024]  By LINDSEY BAHR

The Spider-Man spinoff “Kraven the Hunter” got off to a disastrous start in North American theaters this weekend.

The movie starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson earned only $11 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, making it one of the worst openings for a Marvel-adjacent property. Its box office take was even less than the film “Madame Web."

The weekend's other major studio release was Warner Bros.’ animated “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” which made $4.6 million. Made for about $30 million, the movie is set 183 years before the events of “The Lord of the Rings” films and was fast-tracked to ensure New Line did not lose the rights to Tolkien’s novels. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have been working on future live-action films for the franchise.

Meanwhile, the top of the charts again belonged to “Moana 2" and “Wicked.”

“Moana” added $26.6 million to its domestic total in its third weekend and $57.2 million internationally, bringing its global tally to $717 million. It's now the fourth highest grossing film of the year, surpassing “Dune: Part Two."

“Wicked,” which is in its fourth weekend, brought in another $22.5 million to take second place. The Universal musical has made over $359 million domestically and over $500 million worldwide.

“Gladiator II” also made $7.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $145.9 million in four weeks.

“Kraven the Hunter” is the latest misfire from Sony in its attempt to mine the Spider-Man universe for spin-off franchises without the lucrative web slinger himself. “Kraven” joins “Madame Web” and “Morbius” in franchise additions that fell flat with both audiences and critics. The one exception on this rollercoaster journey has been the “Venom” trilogy, which has made over $1.8 billion worldwide.

The R-rated “Kraven the Hunter” was directed by J.C. Chandor and faced a number of delays, partly due to the Hollywood strikes. It was shot nearly three years ago and originally slated to hit theaters in January 2023. The film cost a reported $110 million to produce and was co-financed by TSG. Internationally, it made $15 million, but its potential for longevity appears limited: It currently carries a 15% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and got a C grade on CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences.

“It’s not always a guarantee that you’ll be able to connect with audiences when you have a spinoff character," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “General audiences seem to want to know exactly what they’re getting.”

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Aaron Taylor Johnson in Columbia Pictures and Marvel's "Kraven the Hunter." (Jay Maidment/Sony Pictures via AP)

Several awards contenders opened in limited release over the weekend, including Paramount’s “September 5” about ABC's coverage of the Munich Olympics hostage crisis. Amazon MGM and Orion's “Nickel Boys,” based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winner about an abusive reform school in Florida, opened in two theaters in New York. It averaged $30,422 per screen and will be expanding to Los Angeles before going nationwide in the coming weeks.

Some big hitters are on the way in the home stretch of the 2024 box office. “Mufasa” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” will hit in the coming weeks along with a bevy of arthouse and adult releases like “Babygirl,” “Nosferatu” and “A Complete Unknown."

The box office has seen a dramatic recovery since June, when it was down nearly 28% from the previous year. The deficit now stands at 4.8%.

Final domestic figures will be released Monday. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Moana 2," $26.6 million.

2. “Wicked,” $22.5 million.

3. “Kraven the Hunter,” $11 million.

4. “Gladiator II,” $7.8 million.

5. “Red One,” $4.6 million.

6. “Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” $4.5 million.

7. “Interstellar” (rerelease), $3.3 million.

8. “Pushpa: The Rule — Part 2,” $1.6 million.

9. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” $1.4 million.

10. “Queer," $790,954.

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