Sony Pictures is riding high on all the goodwill they’ve gained with the critically acclaimed animated film “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” being a big success at the global box office and with the studio’s massive plans to keep mining the “Spider-Man” universe means more live-action spinoffs are on the way as well. The next film heading to theaters is director J.C. Chandor’s (“A Most Violent Year,” Triple Frontier”) “Kraven The Hunter” led by British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Bullet Train”) as Sergei Dimitri Symostivych Kravinoff, the fan-favorite Russian Spider-Man villain.
The studio has officially released a first-look Red-Band trailer (see below) for the R-rated film set to be released this October and features some perplexing aspects, such as Kraven being without his signature Russian accent and switching out for an American one instead, being attacked as a child by a lion somehow gives him superpowers (the trailer doesn’t explain this), and is now more of a violent heroic figure than a straight-up baddie.
“Kraven The Hunter” is also expected to feature characters like iconic Spidey villains such as The Rhino and The Chameleon. Taking other key roles in the film are Ariana DeBose, Christopher Abbott, Alessandro Nivola, Russell Crowe, and Fred Hechinger.
It feels like Sony is trying to take a major crack at an action-focused superhero vehicle here with some elements that you might expect from Marvel franchises like “Captain America” or “Black Panther.” That isn’t much of a shock with a script penned by screenwriter Richard Wenk, who is behind “The Equalizer” trilogy at Sony. We’ll see if the action sequences can distract the audience from some of the questionable creative choices they’ve made with Kraven, as fans might be a little upset with some of the changes going on or simply confused.
Other live-action things on deck as part of the Sony/Marvel films include “Madame Web,” “Venom 3,” Donald Glover’s “Hypno-Hustler,” “El Muerto,” and yet to be officially announced, “Spider-Man 4.”
“Kraven The Hunter” is officially set to be released on the big screen on October 6, and you can watch that Red Band trailer below.