Sony’s Spider-Man Universe movie was ‘ruined’ by press, CEO insists: ‘These aren’t terrible movies’

On By Littum

Kraven the Hunter is Sony Pictures’ worst movie launch since current CEO Tony Vinciquerra took the job back in 2017, he has admitted.

The Sony Spider-Man Universe film stars Kick Ass and Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular villain, a skilled hunter who sets his sights on Spider-Man after conquering all other prey in the animal kingdom.

The Collar bombed at the box office with a paltry $11 million domestic haul from 3,211 theaters during its launch weekend. That number was enough to set an unwanted record: the worst opening ever for a Sony Spider-Man Universe movie. The R-rated action movie came in under the similarly disastrous Madame Webwhich grossed just $15.3 million during its opening weekend earlier this year, as well as all of the Venom movies and 2022’s Morbius ($39 million). Kraven’s current $43,877,089 worldwide box office is especially terrible considering the film cost an estimated $110 million to produce. When you add in marketing expenses, Kraven is set for a big loss.

In an interview with LA Timesoutgoing Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra described Kraven the Hunter as “probably the worst launch we’ve had in the seven and a half years” since he took the job, before continuing to express his surprise at the film’s disappointing box office sales. : “so it didn’t work very well, which I still don’t understand, because the movie isn’t a bad movie.”

In the same interview, Vinciquerra discussed Madame Web’s launch and blamed the press for their box office. In fact, Vinciquerra suggested that the press was to blame for all of the Sony Spider-Man Universe failures, pointing to the success of the Venom trilogy as coming despite this apparent campaign by critics.

“Madame Web underperformed in theaters because the press just crucified it,” Vinciquerra argued. “It wasn’t a bad movie, and it did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided they didn’t want us to make these movies out of Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics just destroyed them. They did that too with Venom, but audiences loved Venom and made Venom a huge hit. They were just trashed by the critics for some reason.”