Film Friday: The Latest, "Kraven," Movie Trailer Looks Legitimately Entertaining, Wildly Enough

The movies Sony has made kinda-sorta set in the same Universe as Spider-Man have been incredibly hit-or-miss. The, "Venom," flicks were good fun and have made lots of money. "Morbius," was decent enough but underperformed. Then, "Madame Web," bombed harder than even the biggest pessimists would have predicted. Now, we've got, "Kraven," on the way this December after being delayed back during all the entertainment industry strikes. The trailers don't really make it look connected to Spider-Man at all besides one villain (The Rhino) but it actually does look kind of fun, surprisingly enough? Observe the newest trailer below:

Aaron Taylor-Johnson was Quicksilver in the MCU, but here he is Kraven, a hunter of sorts who goes after bad guys. It's a bit of a tweak from the comic origin but workable. The new trailer is incredibly bloody and makes it clear this is an R-rated event. That doesn't sell me on the movie any more or less, but the extreme gore and general plot (A hunter who hunts the other hunters) does give this the vibe of a late-80s/early 90's action film but with modern-age special effects, which again, sounds genuinely like it could be entertaining.

If it weren't for Sony shoehorning in the Spider-Man-adjacent ideas this may very well have stood on its own as a decent action and adventure movie, but due to its orbit around Spidey that could impact how much this thing succeeds or fails in theaters. If it is as good and over-the-top a time as it appears, I hope it can find its audience niche. We'll see what happens this December.

Film Friday: Sony Is Making Some Random Spidey-Related Flicks

 

Sony owns the rights to characters that relate to Spider-Man. They've shared with Disney/Marvel so that everyone at both companies can cheer as money falls from the ceiling as if it were a game show. Seriously, the last Spidey flick was especially bonkers in how much it made. However, Sony does have its own flicks that can essentially acknowledge Spider-Man but not always the MCU, maybe? There might be a separate Universe? It is still unclear exactly how the rules work, but Sony is doing its own thing too with stuff like Venom, Morbius, a Kraven movie incoming, Madame Web, and now...El Muerto?

Yes, El Muerto is a character who appeared in a couple of, "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man," comics some years ago...then was never heard from again. He's going to be in a movie with musician Bad Bunny playing him. This was announced at the same time Sony mentioned the no-brainer of, "Venom III." People went from saying, "Of course!" to even those who know deep-cut characters that have interacted with Spider-Man scratching their heads and saying, "Huh?" I thought making a Madame Web movie was digging heavily into a list of Spidey's friends & foes, but this is as deep a dive as there ever was. If the movie will be good I don't mind by any means how random a character is getting a film, however. I'll just take some quality entertainment.

Sony and Disney/Marvel Realize How Much Money They Could Lose, Make-Up

There was of course a lot of hubbub over the concern that Marvel's film studios and Sony's movie division were having a nasty disagreement over the continued use of Spider-Man and his associated IP properties when it came to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and whatever Sony is cooking-up with Spidey (supposedly called, "Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters," the last time I checked) and his tangentially-related films like, "Venom," "Morbius," and apparently, "Madame Web," of all things. Well, Sony and Disney (who of course owns Marvel) had their, "Come to Jesus moment," and realized how much money stood to be lost if they were quarreling instead of just coming to some kind of deal. 

There are hints this new deal may be sweeter for Sony by letting MCU-stuff appear in the other Sony movies with Spidey-characters, or maybe at least Tom Holland's Spidey will at least be able to pop-up in the other Sony flicks without issue--this has all just been announced so time will tell what exactly was worked-out beyond some initial details (namely that Marvel will be involved in one more, "Spider-Man," movie and he'll be allowed to appear in another Marvel film as further plans possibly made). Basically, all is well again in the world of super-hero movies so everyone can just calm down and quit panicking at the idea Spider-Man will never get to say, "Hi," to the Avengers again.