Sony Pictures has released the red band trailer for the latest entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, Kraven the Hunter, directed by J. C. Chandor and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the title character. Kraven the Hunter is typically a Spider-Man villain obsessed with hunting the greatest prey, and in this movie trailer, there’s a bit of the latter. But mostly he’s just another antihero killing bad guys who are badder than he is, like Venom except without the fun campy elements, and his overbearing hunter dad (Russell Crowe) is seemingly set up as one of the antagonists. Oh, also, Kraven got his powers from being mauled by a lion, apparently? That’s like becoming a Transformer because you got hit by a Buick.
Anyway, family drama appears to be at the heart of the story, and Kraven’s brother Dmitri, who becomes the Spider-Man villain the Chameleon, is also in the movie. Do you want to watch a movie where Kraven is upset that his dad is mean and kills a bunch of nondescript henchmen and there is no Spider-Man anywhere? And do you want a confusing and cringeworthy reference to the Rhino out of nowhere? If so, you are going to love the Kraven the Hunter red band trailer.
Sony’s Morbius was DOA in theaters, twice, and while it’s unlikely Kraven the Hunter will bomb as hard as that movie did, (People at least like Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Russell Crowe more than they like Jared Leto.) it will probably bomb. The climate for superhero movies has changed, and with The Flash tanking at the box office as part of a trend of underperforming superhero movies, there is literally no reason to be optimistic about this film’s box office.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the movie won’t be worth watching. (I liked The Flash a lot, despite its obvious issues.) Watch whatever the heck you think looks fun. It’s nice to be surprised.
In any case, Kraven the Hunter will fail in theaters on October 6.
