Kraven the Hunter craters over a mid-December 2024 weekend ruled by Moana and Wicked

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As a seasoned movie enthusiast with over two decades of experiencing the silver screen’s magic, I must say that the latest roundup of box office figures leaves me both impressed and amused. The upcoming blockbusters are shaping up to be a spectacle that could rival even the most epic of cinema battles!

If you’re reading this, it seems like you’re interested in a detailed examination of why Kraven the Hunter underperformed at the box office. We’ll delve into that soon, but let’s follow an orderly approach, starting with the top two movies in North America and then moving on to the issues faced by Kraven the Hunter. First, though, let’s discuss Moana 2, which has been number one domestically for three weeks in a row. This Walt Disney Animation Studios film saw a decrease of 46% this weekend, earning another $27.6 million.

It’s apparent that the most fitting box office counterpart for “Moana 2” is “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” which, as a sequel, earned more in its initial Thanksgiving weekend than typical for a Disney animated film, multiplying its three-day domestic opening weekend by approximately 3.6 times. For context, “Moana” multiplied its opening weekend by 4.5 times and “Tangled” by four times. Despite this, “Moana 2” is still outperforming other recent Disney Animation Thanksgiving releases in terms of weekend grosses. However, its 46% decrease this week (with no new family movies on the horizon) was much greater than “Ralph’s” 36% drop during its third weekend.

So far, “Moana 2” has earned an impressive $337.6 million in the U.S., and with the holiday season approaching, it’s expected to easily surpass $450 million domestically. Interestingly, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” managed to add about $60 million more to its domestic total following a third-weekend take of $16.25 million. In comparison, “Moana 2” is on track to earn roughly $11 million extra this week, suggesting it will accumulate significantly more than $60 million during the remainder of its North American release. Despite dropping faster than other Disney Animation Thanksgiving blockbusters, “Moana 2” remains a box office heavyweight.

Discussing ongoing box office victories at home, the musical production “Wicked” raked in another $23.5 million this week, marking a 35% decline from its previous weekend. This brings its total domestic earnings to an impressive $360 million, surpassing the $356.6 million earned by “Aladdin” in North America and securing the title of the second-highest grossing live-action musical domestically. With a likely domestic total of at least $430 million within reach for this Jon M. Chu production, given that no other major live-action blockbusters (apart from family-friendly “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”) are set to release between now and year’s end.

Without a doubt, Kraven the Hunter does not pose any danger to Elphaba or Glinda. In fact, Kraven the Hunter turned out to be an unprecedented box office failure, earning only $10.7 million during its opening weekend domestically. Compared to previous comic book adaptations, Kraven the Hunter performed dismally, underperforming Aaron Taylor-Jonson’s Kick-Ass 2 by 19%, R.I.P.D by 15%, 2019’s Hellboy by 11%, and both The Crow (1994) and The Shadow (1994) by 9%. Even Scott Pilgrim vs. the World from 2010, which also struggled at the box office, outperformed Kraven the Hunter slightly. Both Bloodshot and Kraven the Hunter were released during a time when a pandemic was starting to confine people to their homes, with Bloodshot earning $1.6 million less domestically than Kraven the Hunter without the advantage of the Marvel brand name.

For years, it seemed like the movie “Kraven the Hunter” was destined to fail at the box office. This was especially true after the disappointing performances of other Sony’s Spider-Man Universe films such as “Morbius” and “Madame Web.” Despite initially being scheduled for release in January 2023, it didn’t hit theaters until a month shy of that date. The marketing campaign was lackluster, with little fanfare. Moreover, with several comic book adaptations facing struggles at the box office in 2023 and 2024 (like “The Flash,” “The Crow,” “Joker: Folie a Deux,” “The Marvels,” “Blue Beetle,” and another “Madame Web”), audiences seemed indifferent to this film. If people weren’t interested enough for a sequel to “Captain Marvel,” what kind of interest could there possibly be for “Kraven the Hunter”?

Estimated production costs for Kraven vary between $110-$130 million, while its domestic earnings will likely be significantly lower compared to 2020’s Sony/Columbia Pictures releases like The Woman King, Anyone But You, A Man Called Otto, It Ends With Us, No Hard Feelings, and Where the Crawdads Sing. Notably, all these films had much lower production costs than Kraven, suggesting that studios should reconsider their approach to movie production by focusing on projects Disney doesn’t currently produce.

As a devoted cinema enthusiast, I can confidently say that there’s an appetite for various movie genres such as heartwarming rom-coms, thought-provoking dramas, side-splitting comedies, and more. However, to capture the interest of the masses and ensure commercial success, these films need to be appealing and effectively marketed! Regrettably, Sony’s upcoming lineup includes sequels to ‘Anaconda’, ‘Blue Streak’, and ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’, along with a movie based on View-Master, which seems to indicate that we might witness more box office failures of ‘Kraven the Hunter’ scale in the near future. “How many times do I have to repeat this lesson, old man?!

In the fourth position, we find the movie “Gladiator II”, which earned $7.8 million during its fourth weekend. To date within the U.S., it has amassed $145.9 million and is projected to earn between $30 and $35 million more due to the approaching end-of-December holidays. Completing the top five was “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”, which experienced a significant drop with only $4.6 million in earnings. This spinoff from the Lord of the Rings saga, titled “Rohirrim”, failed to generate excitement due to limited promotion and the coverage of Middle-Earth material that was too obscure for widespread public appeal. Moreover, the absence of a substantial fanbase for anime adaptations of Lord of the Rings stories hindered it from reaching the box office successes typically seen in larger Crunchryoll releases.

As a diehard cinema enthusiast, I’m eagerly anticipating “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” – the sole Warner Bros. Pictures domestic release sandwiched between “Joker: Folie a Deux” in early October 2024 and “Companion” at the tail end of January 2025. This studio’s 2024 box office performance, unfortunately, has been nothing short of dismal.

Absolute madness. David Zaslav continues to fail and fail hard.

Moving forward, the movie titled “Red One” saw a decrease of 37% over the weekend, earning an additional $4.4 million. Given that it only recently debuted on Amazon Prime streaming, this is a strong hold for the film. To date, “Red One” has accumulated a total domestic gross of $92.6 million and is expected to surpass $100 million in this region soon. Meanwhile, “Interstellar” maintained its impressive run domestically by decreasing only 28% over the weekend, earning another $3.3 million. This was achieved at 321 locations, resulting in an astonishing $10,327 per theater average. The film’s lifetime domestic total now stands at $199.7 million, and it is expected to reach $200 million in North America later today.

In the second part of “Pushpa: The Rule,” there was a 67% drop in ticket sales this weekend, bringing in an additional $1.6 million and totaling $13 million domestically so far. As Christmas nears, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” experienced only a 10% decrease, earning another $1.356 million, now standing at $36.6 million in domestic revenue. It’s predicted to surpass $40 million during its entire run. Making it into the top ten while playing in just 460 cinemas was “Queer,” which made a respectable $790,954, averaging $1,719 per theater. Although not record-breaking, it’s impressive that this film managed to enter the top ten while still being screened in limited release. This latest release of Daniel Craig has now earned $1.92 million domestically.

Following that was a film distributed by A24 again, titled “Y2K“, which saw a steep drop of 68% in its second weekend and earned just $684,957, bringing its total domestic earnings to $3.76 million over ten days. On the other hand, “Flow” experienced a significant decrease of 31%, earning $374,000 at 377 theaters, resulting in an average of $992 per theater. This quiet, animated masterpiece has now grossed $1.32 million, making it one of only four Janus Films releases to surpass $1 million in North America. Unfortunately, “The Order” did not recoup its costs in its second weekend, falling 58% to earn another $365,000. Its current total is at $1.63 million.

As the awards season heats up, several potential award-winners held their ground during this week. “A Real Pain” dropped by 23%, earning an additional $223,000 and reaching a total of $7 million so far. “Anora” expanded to 91 more theaters, grossing $215,000 for an average of $1,005 per theater and a domestic total of $13.48 million. On the other hand, “Conclave” managed to earn another $150,000 while decreasing by only 32%, even though it was released on Peacock last Friday. It has now accumulated $30.89 million in North America.

5th September saw seven cinemas open their doors this weekend, earning a collective sum of $89,000, which is concerning given the low average earnings per theater at $12,714. Meanwhile, ‘The Return’ in its second week dropped by 78% to bring in an additional $79,791, totalling $650,833 domestically. Remarkably, ‘Nickel Boys’ debuted strongly over the recent period, grossing $60,844 from two theaters. This translates to a robust average earnings per theater of $30,422, ranking it as the ninth best limited-release opening weekend per theater average in 2024.

Discussing films that gain traction due to award season recognition, the film “All We Imagine as Light” boosted its screenings to 34 locations and earned $57,000, equating to a remarkable $1,676 per theater average. Currently, its domestic earnings total $431,271. In comparison to another November release from Janus Films, “Drive My Car“, “Light” is performing exceptionally well and has surpassed “Car” by more than 50% in domestic earnings at the same stage. After five weekends in the U.S., it’s clear that “All We Imagine as Light” is poised for a lengthy, profitable run across North America.

In its second week in theaters, the film The End struggled to earn only $51,200 across 151 cinemas, averaging $339 per theater and totalling $80,075 domestically. Meanwhile, The Last Showgirl debuted in a single location this weekend, earning $50,300 before a wider release on January 10th. The comedy Oh, Canada expanded to 74 theaters and took in $49,427, resulting in an underwhelming average of $667 per theater and a domestic total of $100,512. In the top ten films this weekend… Lastly, The Seed of the Sacred Fig expanded to nine locations, earning the same amount as last week – $25,543 – for an average of $2,838 per theater and a domestic total of $137,494.

Over the weekend, the ten highest-grossing films earned a total of $87.6 million, which is typical for the final weekend before major December releases hit the box office. To give you an idea of how things have changed, during the same weekend in 2017 (with Coco leading for the third week in a row), the box office took in $70.6 million. Just one week later, Star Wars: The Last Jedi alone would have tripled that amount! As we approach the end of the year, we can expect new releases like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King to inject some fresh excitement into the market. Additionally, films like Moana 2 and Wicked are expected to continue their successful runs in theaters.

From December 2024 up until now, the film has earned approximately $394.69 million, which is nearly 60% of the total earnings for December 2022 before the major December blockbusters were released. With a strong possibility of hitting $1 billion this month, it’s looking promising. In fact, it could even surpass the $1.071 billion gross of pre-COVID December 2018, which would be quite impressive. Here’s hoping the remaining releases of the year meet and exceed expectations for the benefit of theater owners and staff. If all goes well, the disappointments of Kraven the Hunter will soon be forgotten.

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2024-12-16 15:15