Sony CEO admits ‘Kraven the Hunter’ was studio’s ‘worst’ Marvel launch, blames critics who ‘crucified’ ‘Madame Web’ for flop

nypost.com:

on “Kraven the Hunter” and “Madame Web” bombing at the box office. Vinciquerra, 70, spoke about the movies during an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Thursday, and admitted that the Aaron Taylor-Johnson-starring Marvel flick “Kraven the Hunter” is “probably the worst launch we had” in his nearly eight year tenure Sony. “I still don’t understand, because the film is not a bad film,” he added.

After hitting theaters on Dec. 13, “Kraven” earned a measly $11 million in its first weekend and the ignominious place in Hollywood history as the lowest box open for a Sony-released Marvel movie to date.The film, which reportedly had a budget of $110 million — now has an $18 million domestic haul and a global gross of $43 million.The financial failure of “Kraven” stung more after “Madame Web,” starring Dakota Johnson, flopped, taking home only $100 million, and “Venom: The Last Dance” became the lowest grossing film in the franchise.

Of “Madame Web,” Vinciquerra blames film critics for its failure. “Let’s just touch on ‘Madame Web’ for a moment,” Vinciquerra told the LA Times. “‘Madame Web’ underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it.

It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix.” “For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of ‘Kraven’ and ‘Madame Web,’ and the critics just destroyed them.