WithKraven The Hunterhaving one of the lower worldwide box offices in the superhero genre, it may come as a surprise that the film grossed more than one Fox X-Men movie by more than $10 million. While superhero movies have historically netted some of the most impressive box office takings of all time, the genre is also capable of providing some less grandiose results as well. Though this has been proved by some more recentMarveland DC movies, it’s certainly not a new concept, especially beforethe MCU timelinebrought the superhero genre to new heights.
While a more recent Marvel film,Kraven The Hunterfound itself in something of a complicated position from the offset, as theSony Spider-Man Universe moviewas released afterMorbiusandMadame Webhad already drawn considerable audience criticism, and made people question whether the antihero film would follow in these controversial installments' footsteps. Given this backdrop - and the criticisms then leveled atKraven The Hunter’s own story - it is perhaps no surprise that the film didn’t fare excellently at the box office. However, these results were still higher than one Fox X-Men movie’s own box office.
Kraven The Hunter’s Box Office Doesn’t Compare Favorably To Other Superhero Movies
After releasing in December 2024,Kraven The Hunter’s worldwide box office total is reported to have come to $60-61 million(as perBox Office MojoandThe Numbers). While $60 million is a considerable chunk of money to imagine, it’s not a stellar result in the movie world when compared to the majority of its superhero peers. This is especially true sinceVarietyreported that the film cost an upward of $110 million to produce, which would mean the movie’s box office results marked an overall loss of several tens of millions - likely cementing the end of the Sony Spider-Man Universe.
Kraven The Hunterappears to be the last movie released in the Sony Spider-Man Universe, with other projects previously announced for the franchise having no updates or announcements since this time.
The timing of this result is especially unfortunate, as 2024 also marked one of Marvel’s biggest recent movie successes -Deadpool & Wolverine- with the MCU film’s $1.3 billion box office results placing its Sony counterpart in a more unfavorable light. However,Kraven’s box office pales even in comparison to 2024’sMadame Weband 2022’sMorbius, with these movies netting $100 million and $162 million respectively.
These results do make sense, as - aside fromthe Venom trilogy- the Sony Spider-Man Universe releases did make a steadily decreasing sum. Ultimately, after a slew of less well-received installments, audiences appear to have either lost faith in the franchise’s ability to provide satisfying movies worth going to watch in their cinematic release, or otherwise noted that these films tended to be released on streaming platforms not too long after their cinematic debut, thus waiting to watch them in this format.
As it stands, though, these factors combine to mean thatKraven The Hunterhas one of the lowest superhero movie box offices in recent history.Kraven The Hunter’s worldwide box office ranks below the results of every single Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, every Sony Spider-Man Universe movie - as well as the two currently released animated Spider-Verse movies - and several Marvel movies with mixed reputations, such as 2003’sDaredevil, 2012’sGhost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance, and 2015’sThe Fantastic Four.
Kraven The Hunter Still Beat One Fox X-Men Movie’s Box Office By A Fair Margin
WhileKraven The Hunter’s box office results are likely not what had been hoped for with the movie, they still don’t make the film the lowest-grossing Marvel release of all time - with 2004’sThe Punisherand 2005’sElectracoming just short of the $60 million mark with their own worldwide box offices, for example. Similarly, 2008’sPunisher: War Zonemade a far lower $10 million, with analysis of this result ascribing blame to the R-rated release’s seasonal December debut and the way in which the film was marketed.
However, one more recent example also found itself with an overall box office result that comes belowKraven The Hunter’s worldwide takings, asThe New Mutants' own worldwide box office comes in at $49-47 million(Box Office Mojo&The Numbers). Given the two films released far closer together than the slew of other Marvel movies with a lower box office than Kraven The Hunter,The New Mutants' results are all the more interesting when compared with the 2024 Marvel release, though some of the circumstances behind the X-Men film’s results do mirrorKraven The Hunteritself.
Why Kraven The Hunter’s Box Office Is Higher Than The New Mutants
First and foremost, it’s worth keeping in mind thatThe New Mutantsreleasing in 2020 naturally provided extra complications for its box office, as the film debuted in a period of time during the COVID-19 pandemic wherein many cinemas were actively closed, and where audiences who otherwise may have seen the movie avoided the cinema because of health concerns. However, it is also worth considering thatBlack Widowreleased on streaming and in cinemas not that long after and still found itself with a significantly higher box office, suggesting other factors could have additionally played a role.
Much likeKraven The Hunter,The New Mutantssaw some not inconsiderable negative reception, with some of the most critiqued aspects of the film being its lackluster narrative and the lack of any clear tone for the story. The fact thatThe New Mutantswas marketed as a horror movie but fell short of any genuine scares also looks to have sabotaged it, as while audiences knewKravenwould be an action movie through and through, viewers hoping for a legitimate horror movie were likely disappointed with the actual story, and those put off by its horror tag never got to see it in the first place.
In the same vein,the fact the movie came towards the end of a franchise yet contained very few connections to the releases that had come before no doubt also negatively impacted its overall results, since prospective viewers had less reason to watch the story. Indeed, sinceLoganprovided such a satisfactory sendoff to the characters audiences had grown fond of over the years - andDark Phoenixprovided a less well-received sendoff to the prequel films afterward -The New Mutants' positioning may have been even more detrimental to it thanKraven The Hunter’s own.
