Kraven the Hunter Director Sets Up Next Movie at Sony

An as-yet-untitled drama from J.C. Chandor is apparently close to casting at Sony.

kJust hours before a new trailer dropped for Kraven, Sony Pictures optioned a screenplay from J.C. Chandor, the film's director. The movie, which Chandor hopes will be his next directorial project, is reportedly a drama that centers on the investigation into a murder within a wealthy family. The film is a move back toward movies like Margin Call and A Most Violent Year, the movies that helped Chandor make his name and opened him up to something as big as a Spider-Man spinoff in the first place.

Deadline, who first reported the deal, claims the first draft is already done, and they are already looking at cast. That suggests the movie could get into production soon. Kraven is set for a December 13th release.

"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 told Deadline. "As for what's next for me, as always that's up to the moviemaking gods."

That's not exactly confirmation, but it comports with the idea that Sony and Chandor got along well on the protracted post-production for Kraven, which was likely not helped by the disaster of Madame Web.

The official logline for the film reads, "Kraven the Hunter is the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel's most iconic villains came to be. Set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular character in the R-rated film."

In addition to Aaron Tayor-Johnson, Kraven the Hunter stars Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) as Kraven's longtime love interest, voodoo priestess Calypso; Fred Hechinger; Christopher Abbott (A Most Violent Year) as the assassin known as The Foreigner, and Alessandro Nivola (The Many Saints of Newark) as The Rhino and Russell Crowe (Gladiator) as Nikolai Kravinoff.

Kraven the Hunter is set to hit theaters on December 13th.