Up until very recently, there were a lot of people expecting Kraven the Hunter to be hit with a delay, which was understandable when the latest installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe had gone virtually radio silent since production wrapped, despite an October 6 release date being penciled in.
Thanks to last night’s CinemaCon presentation, though, we can safely say that not only is Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s latest shot at superhero stardom following Kick-Ass and Avengers: Age of Ultron is on course to land a little over five months from now, but it’s also generating non-ironic hype for one of the franchise’s comic book adaptations for the first time in what feels like forever.
While Tom Hardy’s Venom 3 has largely proven immune to criticism, it would also be fair to say that Morbius and Bad Bunny’s El Muerto in particular have become viral sensations for the wrong reasons, but all it took was confirmation that Kraven the Hunter will be R-rated for the tides to turn in an instant.
In the film’s defense, J.C. Chandor is an excellent director with the right material, and the same applies to Taylor-Johnson as a performer, so throwing an R-rating into the mix with the promise of what could be the gnarliest, most blood-soaked Marvel movie ever made is tantalizing to say the least.
Of course, expectations should always be tempered when Sony is involved given the studio’s track record for superheroic disappointment, but is Kraven the Hunter actually going to be good? Stranger things have definitely happened.