Sony's Spider-Man Villain Universe Could Be Dead After Kraven The Hunter

For the last handful of years, Sony has shaken up the superhero movie landscape by expanding the scope of the "Spider-Man" franchise. That has occasionally resulted in truly wonderful things, such as the Oscar-winning hit animated film "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," as well as its sequel, "Across the Spider-Verse." It has also resulted in truly surprising hits, such as Tom Hardy's "Venom" trilogy. It has also, however, brought forth some truly disastrous spin-offs, such as "Morbius" and "Madame Web." And it appears as though the days of these Spidey villain spin-off films may soon be behind us.

"Kraven the Hunter," directed by J.C. Chandor ("Triple Frontier") and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson ("Tenet"), hits theaters this upcoming weekend. According to a new report by The Wrap, the movie might mark the end of the line for these villain-focused films. "They've developed what they want to develop for now," a top talent agent said of Sony's villain films in the report. "It's really about the next 'Spider-Man' film."

Indeed, after the record-shattering success of 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Tom Holland is returning as Peter Parker in the currently untitled "Spider-Man 4," which will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton ("Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"). With the "Venom" trilogy in the rearview mirror following the release of "The Last Dance" earlier this year, it makes every bit of sense for Sony to turn its attention towards a slam dunk $1 billion global grosser.

Another Sony insider spoke to the outlet and said the studio is also focusing on "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse," which is the third installment in the animated Mile Morales trilogy, as well as the live-action "Spider-Noir" TV series starring Nicolas Cage in the title role.

In essence, it sounds very much like Sony is now leaning into projects that have more direct ties to Spider-Man, rather than projects that are only, at very best, tangentially connected to the webslinger. From a dollars and cents point of view, that's probably a wise move. Even "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which killed that incarnation of the franchise, made $709 million worldwide. Those are returns any studio today would take today without hesitation.

The fact of the matter is that the superhero movie landscape is changing. Yes, movies like "Deadpool & Wolverine" or "Across the Spider-Verse" can still be big hits, but those films center on well-liked, already established characters. Meanwhile, Sony's own "Morbius" and "Madame Web" floundered very badly both critically and commercially. DC, meanwhile, had trouble launching new franchises with projects featuring comparatively unfamiliar characters like "Black Adam" and "Blue Beetle." At the same time, Marvel Studios suffered defeats with films starring less prominent characters like "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "The Marvels." The era of comic book films becoming presumed hits is over.

To that end, "Kraven the Hunter" isn't tracking well at the box office and, with a budget said to be in the $100 million range, Sony could be looking at another defeat. It's probably good that Sony has the rights to the "Spider-Man" franchise as it's not good for Disney to own everything under the sun. But it certainly doesn't help Sony if the movies they make with those coveted rights underperform. This experiment could have worked, but the way it played out over the last few years, it simply didn't. It's time to put the focus back on Spider-Man and stop developing spin-offs out of desperation.

"Kraven the Hunter" hits theaters on December 13, 2024.