KRAVEN THE HUNTER (2024)
Sony’s Kraven the Hunter release date was delayed by almost a year, moving from October 6, 2023, to August 30, 2024. Movie delays are not exactly rare, and can typically be explained by internal developments in the course of a movie’s production, whether for better or worse. But in this instance, the delay of Kraven the Hunter is due to a wider issue that is currently pervading Hollywood and the film industry at large.
Kraven the Hunter was initially set to be the next Spider-Man villain in Sony’s Marvel universe to receive a standalone movie, following in the footsteps of Venom and the more poorly-received Morbius. Delaying its release until August 2024, however, has pushed back Kraven the Hunter within that lineup, meaning it will now follow Madame Web and Venom 3, which are slated for release in February and July 2024, respectively. Given that the Sony Spider-Man Universe is in the early stages of establishing these characters, this shouldn’t impact the narrative too heavily, and it is easy to see why Sony has made the decision to delay Kraven the Hunter.
Sony has delayed the release of Kraven the Hunter by a year, but this could spell great news for the upcoming film. Sergei Kravinoff, a.k.a. Kraven the Hunter, is one of Spider-Man’s most enduring foes in Marvel Comics, so his introduction into live-action is highly-anticipated, particularly since there had been plans to integrate him into a number of prior Marvel movie franchises. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4, a sequel to Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and even Marvel Studios’ MCU all almost featured Kraven the Hunter, but the character was finally confirmed to be coming to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe in August 2018.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson was cast as the titular antihero in May 2021, and Kraven the Hunter was originally expected to release on January 13, 2023. The film was later delayed to October 6, 2023, which became the date advertised for the film in Kraven the Hunter’s red-band trailer. However, after the onset of 2023’s SAG-AFTRA strike, joining the WGA strike and bringing Hollywood to a halt, Kraven the Hunter was delayed once again in a huge shake-up for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe release schedule. The movie is now expected to release on August 30, 2024, which may enable it to avoid one major issue that has plagued Sony’s Marvel movies.
