Kraven the Hunter Was Reportedly Delayed for “Strategic Reshoots”

After years of being in the works and multiple release date changes, Kraven the Hunter is finally headed to the big screen later this year. The new film, which will be centered around the Marvel Comics villain of the same name, is an entry in Sony’s ever-evolving Spider-Man Universe of movies — and it sounds like the studio has positive feelings about the project. A new report from Deadline, which dives into Kraven the Hunter director J.C. Chandor having lined up his next movie with Sony Pictures, provides a bit of insight into his work on the studio’s upcoming Marvel film. According to the report, the project was delayed to December 13th of this year in order for Chandor “to sharpen the characters and tighten the plot, and some strategic reshoots which were effective.” The report also claims that after undergoing these reshoots, Sony is “optimistic” that Kraven will be on par with their Venom franchise of films, following the underwhelming performance of Madame Web earlier this year.

“I’m extremely proud of the work we have all done together on Kraven, and when the movie finally gets its chance to be seen I think it’s gonna surprise the hell out of a lot of people,” Chandor confirmed to the outlet. “As for what’s next for me, as always that’s up to the moviemaking gods.”

What Is Kraven the Hunter About?

In Kraven the Hunter, Russian immigrant Sergei Kravinoff is on a mission to prove that he is the greatest hunter in the world. The film will star Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven, Arana DeBose as Calypso, Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino, Christopher Abbott as the Foreigner, Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff, and Fred Heichinger as Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon.

“He is a hunter and from that world of hunting and there’s so many aspects,” Taylor-Johnson told ComicBook.com in an interview last year. “What I love about that character is that what is he humanizing is that he has flaws, right? Kraven is a beautiful character. Sergei Kravinov is a beautiful character because it’s someone who’s really understanding themselves and has flaws. This is a character that was built ages ago and it’s in a new time and era, but yeah, is he going to be the hunter that we all want to see? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.”

As mentioned above, Kraven the Hunter is currently scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on Friday, December 13th.