Audiences Have a Craving for ‘Kraven the Hunter’ on Streaming, Despite 15% Rotten Tomatoes Score

Karven the Hunter has entered the long list of movies that were duds at the box office but get constant attention with a wider release on home video or streaming. The Aaron Taylor-Johnson-led film, which tells the origin story of one of the most compelling Marvel villains in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, failed to impress audiences and critics in theaters, but since it arrived on streaming, it has reigned in various charts.

As per FlixPatrol, Kraven the Hunter is topping the Max charts at the third spot. The movie only stands behind Companion and Ben Affleck’s action flick The Accountant, which is garnering eyeballs as the sequel hits the theaters. Before topping the Max charts, the movie also reigned Netflix charts, entertaining viewers worldwide. Perhaps it’ll be remembered as a campy R-rated action flick down the line.

‘Kraven the Hunter’ Was a Box Office Bomb

The film was a box-office failure, grossing $59.4 million worldwide on a budget of $110–130 million. Kraven has a 17 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating, while interestingly, the audience score is as high as 74 percent. The audience score further now cements the streaming popularity of the action-packed movie with a good performance by its lead star, but falls short of a decent origin story and special effects. In contrast, Dakota Johnson-led Madame Web grossed over $100 million worldwide, and Jared Leto-led Morbius grossed over $167 million worldwide.

Directed by JC Chandor, the movie brought forward the origin story of the fan-favorite comic book villain. We meet a young Sergei (Johnson), whose complex relationship with his father Nikolai (played by Russell Crowe) starts him down a path of vengeance. And motivates him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared. The Red Band trailer for the film had fans’ hopes up, but somehow the hype did not translate at the box office. Still, its refreshing to see that the movie is getting its due on streaming.

Along with Taylor-Johnson the movie also cast some power-packed performers, including Ariana DeBose as Calypso Ezili, Fred Hechinger as Kraven’s brother Dmitri aka the Chameleon, Alessandro Nivola as antagonist Rhino, Christopher Abbott as the Foreigner, Crowe as Kraven’s father Nikolai, Murat Seven as Omer and Yuri Kolokolnikov as Semyon Chorney. Chandor directs from a script by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway.

Karven the Hunter is streaming on Max. Stay tuned to Collider for more such updates.