Sony boss blames critics for new Marvel film flopping at the box office

CEO Tony Vinciquerra said ‘Kraven the Hunter,’ based on Super-Man supervillain, has been ‘destroyed’ by critics

Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra has lamented the abysmal box office performance of the studio’s latest Marvel movie, Kraven the Hunter, blaming critics for “destroying” it in early reviews.

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular Russian supervillain from the Spider-Man comics, the new spin-off is a stand-alone story that focuses on Kraven’s complex relationship with his ruthless father (Russell Crowe).

Released in theaters on December 13, Kraven the Hunter has made box office history for having the worst opening weekend of any Sony-produced Marvel film.

During its opening weekend, the film pulled in just $11 million in the U.S. and $15 million globally, against its $110-$150 million budget. As of December 22, it made just $30.2 million.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in a new interview, Vinciquerra called the movie’s release “probably the worst launch we had in the 7 1/2 years.”

“Which I still don’t understand, because the film is not a bad film,” he said. “For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics just destroyed them.”

Earlier this year, the widely panned Madame Web, featuring Dakota Johnson as the clairvoyant superhero, debuted to a paltry 23 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It currently sits at an even lower score of 11 percent.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in mega flop ‘Kraven the Hunter’ (Sony)

The Independent’s Clarrise Loughrey labeled it “a desperate comic book misfire that seems embarrassed by its own existence,” in her one-star review.

Meanwhile, she similarly lambasted Kraven the Hunter, calling it an “abysmal farewell to Sony’s Spider-Man universe.”

It, too, currently sits at an undesirable 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

“They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit,” Vinciquerra added of the 2018 Tom Hardy-led sci-fi. “These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”

In 2022, Sony released its other major flop Morbius, starring Jared Leto as the Spider-Man villain. Morbius also holds a 15 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.

Going on to predict that “if we put another one out, it’s going to get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is,” he said the studio will need to “rethink its [Spider-Man universe strategy] just because it’s snake-bitten.”

Sony owns the rights to these characters; however, in 2019, the company renegotiated the deal to share them with Disney, opening it up for possible appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).