“I still don’t understand”: Sony Pictures CEO Admits Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s ‘Kraven the Hunter’ Is Studio’s Worst Launch in 7 Years

Directed by J. C. Chandor, Sony Pictures’ recent release Kraven the Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe, and more, is the sixth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. The highly anticipated movie follows Sergei Kravinoff’s relationship with his father and how he became the greatest hunter.

The film was delayed for two years, but upon its release, it failed to impress the audience and received negative reviews. Kraven the Hunter joins the list of movies by Sony’s Spider-Man Universe that have received criticism. However, Sony Pictures’ CEO defends the movie’s performance and explains why the Spider-Man universe’s spin-offs didn’t work.

Sony Pictures’ CEO calls Kraven the Hunter ‘not a bad film’

In a recent cover story for the Los Angeles Times, Sony Pictures’ CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who will step down from his position on January 2nd, 2025, addressed the recent flop Kraven the Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He said,

We’ve had mostly very, very good results. Unfortunately, Kraven the Hunter which we launched last weekend, and my last film launch, is probably the worst launch we had in the 7 ½ years, so that didn’t work out very well, which I still don’t understand because the film is not a bad film.

Vinciquerra added that the studio had been successful earlier. Sony Pictures Spider-Man Universe started with Venom, which premiered in 2018 and starred Tom Hardy. The Venom trilogy is the only spin-off movie that has worked in the SSU, whereas movies including Morbius and Madame Web tanked and resulted in heavy losses for the studios.

Talking about Madame Web’s failure, the CEO noted that it underperformed in theaters because the press had crucified the movie. He once again added that it was not a bad movie, which is why it did well on Netflix.

The CEO mentioned that the media didn’t want the studios to make movies out of Kraven and Madame Web, and then the critics just shredded them into pieces. He shared,

They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.

However, he also agreed that the studio does need to rethink its strategy for the future because it’s snakebitten. He said that if they put another movie out, just like the recent ones, it’s going to get destroyed, no matter if it’s good or bad.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson talks about working with Russell Crowe on Kraven the Hunter

The lead actor of the movie Aaron Taylor-Johnson was excited to share screen space with legendary actor Russell Crowe, who plays Taylor-Johnson’s character Sergei Kravinoff’s father, Nikolai. While speaking with Games Radar+, he said,

He’s a legend. I grew up idolizing him. He was a real hero of mine. So to be able to play father and son and have this conflict and drama in there was a dream come true.

Taylor-Johnson described Crowe as an absolute professional who gave a menacing performance. The filmmaker J.C. Chandor also praised the Gladiator actor for helping the cast and crew to work at their best. He noted that they were probably 30 days into filming, so they had gotten familiar with the filming, like a pattern.

The filmmaker noted that then Crowe showed up, and Chandor recalled that it felt like this must have happened when Michael Jordan walked into a gym at practice, pointing out that everyone operates at a different level. The filmmaker spoke about the action sequences in the movie and mentioned that he wanted the stunts to have reality to them.

He praised the actor by stating that Taylor-Johnson was just a physically gifted performer, and he performed well in the movie. Due to the movie’s R rating, the makers did not hold themselves back during the fight sequences. However, none of it worked as the audience criticized the movie.

Kraven the Hunter is playing in cinemas.