The Spider-Man spinoff, “Kraven the Hunter,” had a rough debut in theaters across North America this weekend.
The film, which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, managed to bring in just $11 million, marking it as one of the poorest openings for a film related to the Marvel franchise. This performance was even underwhelming compared to the box office results of “Madame Web.”

On the other hand, the animated offering from Warner Bros., “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” secured $4.6 million in its opening weekend.
This film, which cost around $30 million to make, is set 183 years prior to the narrative of the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and was expedited in production to preserve New Line’s rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works.
Plans for future live-action adaptations are underway, with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens leading efforts in development.

At the top of the box office chart, “Moana 2” and “Wicked” took the lead once more.
“Moana” increased its domestic total by adding $26.6 million in its third weekend and gathered an additional $57.2 million internationally, culminating in a global earnings total of $717 million, making it the fourth highest grossing film of the year, surpassing “Dune: Part Two.”
“Wicked,” in its fourth weekend, followed closely by earning $22.5 million, resulting in over $359 million domestically and over $500 million globally.

Meanwhile, “Gladiator II” added $7.8 million to its growing domestic total, which now stands at $145.9 million over four weeks.
“Kraven the Hunter” reflects Sony’s ongoing struggles to successfully capitalize on the Spider-Man universe without the presence of the iconic character.
This film becomes part of a list, alongside “Madame Web” and “Morbius,” that have seen lackluster responses from both audiences and critics.
The notable exception in this trend has been the “Venom” series, which has amassed over $1.8 billion globally.

Directed by J.C. Chandor, “Kraven the Hunter” encountered several delays, partly due to labor strikes in Hollywood.
The project was filmed nearly three years ago and was initially set to premiere in January 2023.
With a production budget of around $110 million and co-financed by TSG, the film earned $15 million overseas, but its long-term potential appears questionable.
It holds a mere 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received a C grade from CinemaScore based on audience reactions.

“Connecting with audiences is not guaranteed when it comes to spin-off characters,” noted Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.
“General audiences appear to prefer clear expectations of what they are viewing.”
Meanwhile, a number of films that are likely to be strong contenders for awards launched in limited release this weekend.
Paramount’s “September 5,” which focuses on ABC’s reporting of the Munich Olympics hostage crisis, and Amazon MGM and Orion’s “Nickel Boys,” based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an abusive reform school in Florida, both opened in select theaters.
“Nickel Boys” had a strong average of $30,422 per screen and is set to expand to Los Angeles before going nationwide in the coming weeks.

Anticipation builds for several high-profile releases as the 2024 box office draws near, notably “Mufasa” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” alongside various arthouse and adult films such as “Babygirl,” “Nosferatu,” and “A Complete Unknown.”
Since June, the box office has begun to rebound significantly; what once was a 28% drop compared to the previous year has now been reduced to just 4.8%.

Final domestic figures are expected to be released on Monday, but early projections for ticket sales across U.S. and Canadian theaters from Friday to Sunday, as per Comscore, list the following:

1. “Moana 2,” $26.6 million.
2. “Wicked,” $22.5 million.
3. “Kraven the Hunter,” $11 million.
4. “Gladiator II,” $7.8 million.
5. “Red One,” $4.6 million.
6. “Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” $4.5 million.
7. “Interstellar” (re-release), $3.3 million.
8. “Pushpa: The Rule — Part 2,” $1.6 million.
9. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” $1.4 million.
10. “Queer,” $790,954.