"Kraven the Hunter" Flops, but "Moana 2" Once Again Dominates the Box Office

This weekend, the Spider-Man spinoff “Kraven the Hunter” had a terrible opening weekend in North American theaters.

According to studio projections on Sunday, the Aaron Taylor-Johnson film made just $11 million, which is among the lowest beginnings for a franchise that is close to Marvel. It made even less money at the box office than “Madame Web.”

Warner Bros.’ animated film “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” which earned $4.6 million, was the other big studio release of the weekend. The film, which was rushed to guarantee that New Line would not lose the rights to Tolkien’s novels, was made for roughly $30 million and is set 183 years before the events of the “The Lord of the Rings” films. The franchise’s upcoming live-action movies are being developed by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens.

Meanwhile, “Moana 2” and “Wicked” once again topped the charts.

In its third weekend, “Moana” brought in $26.6 million domestically and $57.2 million abroad, for a total of $717 million worldwide. It has surpassed “Dune: Part Two” to become the fourth highest grossing movie of the year.

In its fourth weekend, “Wicked” earned an additional $22.5 million, placing it in second place. Over $359 million has been earned domestically and over $500 million globally by the Universal musical.

In four weeks, “Gladiator II” earned $145.9 million domestically, including $7.8 million.

Sony’s latest failure in its attempt to sift through the Spider-Man universe for spin-off franchises without the successful web slinger himself is “Kraven the Hunter.” Along with “Madame Web” and “Morbius,” “Kraven” is another franchise expansion that failed to impress both viewers and reviewers. The “Venom” trilogy, which has generated nearly $1.8 billion globally, is the lone exception to this wild ride.

In an effort to sift through the Spider-Man universe for spin-off franchises without the successful web slinger himself, Sony has failed once again with “Kraven the Hunter.” Joining “Madame Web” and “Morbius” as franchise additions that failed to impress both reviewers and viewers is “Kraven.” The one exception to this wild ride has been the “Venom” trilogy, which has earned over $1.8 billion globally.

J.C. Chandor’s R-rated film “Kraven the Hunter” experienced several delays, in part because of the Hollywood strikes. Originally scheduled to premiere in theaters in January 2023, it was filmed over three years ago. The movie was co-financed by TSG and reportedly cost $110 million to make. It earned $15 million abroad, but it doesn’t seem to have much room to grow: It presently has a 15% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while opening weekend viewers gave it a C on CinemaScore.

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

Over the weekend, a number of award-winning films, such as Paramount’s “September 5,” which concerns ABC’s coverage of the hostage situation during the Munich Olympics, were released in limited distribution. Based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an abusive rehabilitation school in Florida, Amazon MGM and Orion’s “Nickel Boys” debuted in two New York theaters. In the upcoming weeks, it will expand to Los Angeles before going worldwide, with an average of $30,422 per screen.

In the last stretch of the 2024 box office, there will be some big hits. In the upcoming weeks, a plethora of arthouse and adult titles, including “Babygirl,” “Nosferatu,” and “A Complete Unknown,” will be released alongside “Mufasa” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”

Since June, when it was down about 28% from the year before, the box office has seen a remarkable comeback. The current deficit is 4.8%.

On Monday, the final domestic numbers will be made public. Comscore estimates the following ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at cinemas in the United States and Canada: