Sony: Kraven the Hunter will not be coming out in 2023

Kraven the Hunter’s new August 2024 release date is very much not desirable… but it might just be a blessing in disguise.

Sony’s Kraven the Hunter, originally set to slide into theaters in late 2023, now has a new release date of August of 2024. Yes. It’s very much undesired, but hear me out: it’s actually and probably for the best.

But, Cam, how can that be a good thing?!

While delays are usually a bummer, in this case, the postponement might just be the hero Kraven needs right now.

First things first, Kraven the Hunter isn’t a stranger to the waiting game. Initially, it had been slotted to hit theaters back in January 2023. It then got nudged down to October 6, 2023, setting up a fun Halloween release, much like Venom. But now, we’re looking at a late summer premiere for the movie.

Well, the villain this time is the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP): the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike has put this as well as many other projects on hold – and that includes the marketing for them. You know, the usual premieres, interviews, and social media blasts? Yeah, those cannot be done right now. And for a movie like Kraven, that’s a big deal.

Kraven the Hunter’s release date delay is a blessing in disguise

It’s no secret: we’re living in an age of “superhero fatigue.” I get it – I write about them for a living, there are a lot of superhero movies out there thanks to Marvel’s Multiverse and DCU’s new and upcoming universe as well. There was a time when anything remotely close to superhero talk was basically a license to print money. But with all this influx, that’s not the case anymore. Must I speak about Morbius, Sony’s other superhero movie spinoff that crashed and burned at the box office, despite being in the same Spider-Man Universe? I also blame Jared Leto’s casting for such a flop, but I digress.

That’s why this delay could be a good thing for Kraven: it gives the best genre in the world some breathing room, distancing it from the utter saturation in the industry right now and the negative vibes from Morbius.

Here’s another reason to be cautiously optimistic about the delay: 2023 hasn’t been kind to titles we thought would soar. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Fast X, and The Flash among others also took a nosedive despite their flashy marketing campaigns. So maybe, just maybe, 2024 will be a better landscape for Kraven to do his hunting.

What’s more, the new date aligns Kraven closer to other upcoming releases like Madame Web and Venom 3. The added hype from all of those movies combined could spill over, giving Kraven an added push.

So yes, we’ve all got to wait a bit longer to see Kraven hunt down… well, whoever he’s hunting down. But this extra time could transform the film from potential prey into a true predator at the box office, potentially steering clear of the ongoing chaos that’s currently plaguing the industry. I’m all here for that.