'Kraven' Box Office: As Another Marvel Movie Bombs, It's Not Superhero Fatigue, It's Superhero Indifference

When superhero flicks earn less than romantic comedies, its time to abandon decades of ill-advised conventional wisdom about what constitutes a safe bet.

What should have been obvious years ago now becomes glaringly apparent. Venom was an exception to the rule. You can’t create a viable franchise from an existing IP if the IP is the only interesting variable it has to offer. And over five years after the conclusion of “The Infinity Saga,” the sub-genre of Marvel and DC superhero movies is no less commercially safe than any other would-be franchise title. Heck, sans the 2010s-era benefit of the doubt and presumption of event movie status, the next batch of four-color adventures will now have to overcome presumptions that they are “for fans only” inside baseball and will have to make the case as to why they are still, on a case-by-case basis, a bigger deal than their tentpole rivals. 

Kraven the Hunter opened with $11 million in North America. That’s below what Venom: Let There Be Carnage earned ($11.6 million) in its Thursday previews in 2021. Kraven the Hunter will register the lowest domestic debut for a Marvel or DC superhero film since— noting The New Mutants’ ($7 million in 2020) COVID/theater closures circumstance—Josh Brolin’s Jonah Hex ($5.6 million in 2010). Sony’s $110 million anti-hero origin story flick earned $15 million overseas. Assuming legs and a domestic/overseas split on par with Morbius and Madame Web, we’re looking at a final gross comparable to New Mutants ($23 million domestic and $49 million during the COVID summer of 2020) and Elektra ($26 million/$56 million in 2005). It’s time for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe to end. This isn’t “superhero fatigue.” It’s “superhero indifference.”