Kraven the Hunter is set to open in theaters in 2023. Kraven the Hunter is one of Spider-Man's oldest and most iconic foes and was introduced in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #15 back in 1964. The character has been a member of the Sinister Six and is most famously known for the storyline Kraven's Last Hunt, published in 1987.
While many assumed given Kraven's status as one of Spider-Man's enemies not featured in a film before, many figured he would play a role in one of the MCU Spider-Man films. Still, like with Venom, Sony decided to develop a spin-off film focusing on the character. J.C Candor (Triple Frontier) is set to direct a movie focusing on Kraven the Hunter for Sony Pictures. Aaron Taylor Johnson, who previously played Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, has been cast in the title role. The film is the latest part in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC) and will connect to Venom, Morbius, and still-in-development projects like Madame Webb and the Olivia Munn directed feature.
Sony has now set a release date for Kraven the Hunter. The film will open in theaters on January 13, 2023. The film is produced by longtime Spider-Man producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad and a screenplay by writing duo Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Morbius) and Richard Wenk (The Equalizer).
Kraven the Hunter's January 13 release date puts it in the three-day Martin Luthur King Jr. holiday weekend. Currently, no films are set to open against it. The film's biggest competition will come from holdovers from the 2022 holiday season, including Aquaman 2 and Avatar 2. The film will open a month before Marvel Studios Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The January release date for Kraven the Hunter is similar to how Sony has set Morbius to open in January 2022. Marvel currently has a hold on the first weekend in May, so Sony is looking to carve out the month of January for its Marvel films. While January is typically seen as a dumping ground for studios, with the summer and holiday movie season dominated by various high-profile projects, studios have had to look to other months to stake out a claim for box-office superiority. Venom and Joker both proved you could open a blockbuster in October and films like American Sniper and Cloverfield made a good deal profit being January releases. Sony now hopes that audiences will turn out for Kraven the Hunter the same way they did for those films.
Source: Sony
