Kraven the Hunter Film Details
Kraven the Hunter is a 2024 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The film explores Kraven’s relationship with his father and his path to becoming the greatest hunter. Directed by J. C. Chandor from a screenplay by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, the film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the title role, alongside Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment, it is the sixth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU).
Kraven was considered for film appearances several times before Sony Pictures became interested in a standalone film for the character, as part of its new shared universe, in mid-2017. Wenk was hired in August 2018, with Marcum and Holloway joining later. Chandor entered negotiations to direct in August 2020 and was confirmed in May 2021 when Taylor-Johnson was cast. Additional cast members joined in early 2022 before filming took place from late March until mid-June in London, Iceland, and Glasgow.
Following two years of delays, Kraven the Hunter was released by Columbia Pictures in the United States on December 13, 2024. The film was a box-office bomb, grossing $62 million worldwide on a budget of $110–130 million, and received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized its screenplay and visual effects.
STORY
CAST
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven:
A hunter-gatherer. Taylor-Johnson described his take on the character as an apex predator and a conservationist but not a poacher, a “protector of the natural world”, and an “animal lover”.- Levi Miller portrays a young Sergei.
- Ariana DeBose as Calypso Ezili: A voodoo priestess who aids Kraven.
- Diaana Babnicova plays young Calypso.
- Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Kravinoff / Chameleon: Kraven’s estranged half-brother who is a master of disguise.
- Billy Barratt portrays a young Dmitri.
- Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino: A Russian mercenary who can transform into a human-rhino hybrid.
- Christopher Abbott as the Foreigner: An assassin who uses ocular hypnosis to slow time and is hired by Aleksei.
- Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff: Kraven’s estranged father, and a ruthless crime lord and drug trafficker.
- Murat Seven as Omer Aksoy, a Turkish assassin hired by Aleksei.
- Yuri Kolokolnikov as Semyon Chorney, a Russian crime lord Kraven encounters in prison.
- Tom Reed as Bert, Aleksei’s second-in-command.
Additionally, Masha Vasyukova appears as Kraven’s mother. Guillaume Delaunay plays Mofo, a large and intimidating prisoner who becomes Kraven’s cellmate.
PRODUCTION
Development
Director Sam Raimi planned to include the Marvel Comics character Kraven the Hunter in his fourth Spider-Man film before that project was canceled in favor of The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), a reboot of the franchise. Sony Pictures announced plans in December 2013 for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) to establish a shared universe—inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)—based on the Marvel properties they held the rights to. Kraven was teased in that film, with its director Marc Webb expressing interest in seeing the character appear on film. In February 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios announced a new partnership to co-produce the film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and integrate the Spider-Man character with Marvel’s MCU. In May 2017, Sony announced its own shared universe, later named “Sony’s Spider-Man Universe” (SSU). Sony intended this to be “adjunct” to their MCU Spider-Man films, featuring Spider-Man related properties beginning with Venom (2018). The studio was considering a Kraven film for the universe. Before learning that Sony had the film rights for Kraven, director Ryan Coogler hoped to include the character in his MCU film Black Panther (2018) because of a fight between Black Panther and Kraven in Christopher Priest’s Black Panther comic book run.
Richard Wenk was hired to write a screenplay for Kraven the Hunter in August 2018, a month after the successful release of Sony’s The Equalizer 2 (2018), which he wrote. The project was billed as “the next chapter” of Sony’s shared universe. Wenk was tasked with introducing Kraven to audiences and figuring out which character he could hunt in the film since Spider-Man, considered to be Kraven’s “white whale” in the comic books, was unlikely to appear due to the MCU deal. Whether the film would target adult audiences would depend on the audience response to Venom‘s darker approach. In October, Wenk said he was “cracking” the story and tone of the film before beginning scripting. He intended to adhere to the character’s comic book lore, including by featuring Kraven fighting Spider-Man. Wenk said Sony intended to adapt the Kraven’s Last Hunt (1987) comic book storyline, and there were ongoing discussions over whether to do that in this film or a later one. Wenk compared the latter approach to the two-part film Kill Bill (2003/2004). He expressed interest in having Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua join the film; Fuqua considered directing Sony’s Marvel-based film Morbius (2022), and would decide on directing Kraven based on the script. Sony confirmed that a film featuring Kraven was in development in March 2019.
Jon Watts, the director of Homecoming and its sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), expressed interest in featuring Kraven in a potential third Spider-Man film set within the MCU; Watts pitched a film pitting Peter Parker / Spider-Man against Kraven to Spider-Man star Tom Holland, but this idea was abandoned in favor of the multiversal story of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). By August 2020, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had re-written the script, after doing uncredited rewrites for Morbius. At that time, J. C. Chandor entered talks to direct the film, while Matt Tolmach, Avi Arad, and David Householter were set as producers. Chandor was confirmed as director in May 2021, when Aaron Taylor-Johnson was cast to star as Kraven, and signed on to portray the character in multiple films. Sony had previously approached actors such as Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, John David Washington and Adam Driver for the role, but Sony executives moved quickly to cast Taylor-Johnson after they were “blow[n] away” by early footage of him in the film Bullet Train (2022). Taylor-Johnson began negotiations shortly after an initial phone call with Chandor and Tolmach. By July, Jodie Turner-Smith was reportedly in talks to portray Kraven’s love interest, Calypso. That October, Holland said he and Pascal had discussed him potentially reprising his role as Spider-Man in the film. Neither Holland nor his character appeared in the finished film; according to a Sony source who spoke to Variety, The Walt Disney Company, which held the rights to the MCU, never forbade Sony from using Holland or the Peter Parker / Spider-Man character, with the character appearing in the Sony Pictures Animation feature film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), but Sony felt that audiences would not accept Holland’s live-action Spider-Man unexpectedly appearing in a non-MCU film, especially after No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) established definitive boundaries for the MCU.
The film was greenlit with a production budget of $90 million, but due to the 2023 writers and actors strike the costs increased. The final cost was reportedly as high $130 million, but Variety disputed this figure, estimating it cost “upward of $110 million”.
RELEASE
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