Sony “Very Happy" With ‘Kraven the Hunter' Reshoots

Is Sony’s R-rated “Kraven the Hunter” going to prove the skeptics wrong?

Last month, ‘Kraven,’ directed by J.C. Chandor, was delayed to a December 13 release date. This one kept moving — it was previously scheduled for January 13, October 6, 2023, and, more recently, August 30, 2024.

It turns out that the last delay was to conduct reshoots which, according to Deadline, allowed for Chandor to “sharpen the characters and tighten the plot.” Their sources say the reshoots were “effective” and Sony is optimistic that ‘Kraven’ will now surprise more than a few people come December.

Deadline reached out to Chandor for comment on ‘Kraven’, and he texted back:

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.

The main narrative that Sony is trying to throw out there, with Deadline as their messenger, is that they are so happy with how ‘Kraven’ turned out that they are working with Chandor again on a new project.

Here’s what I had previously written about ‘Kraven’:

‘Kraven’ cost $130 million to produce — higher than Sony’s other comic book movies, “Venom”, “Morbius” and “Madame Web”. The trailer has also been largely mocked online. Suffice to say, things have been looking rather dire for this one.

‘Kraven’ stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Russian immigrant Sergei Kravinoff who goes on a mission to prove that he is the greatest hunter in the world. Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe and Christopher Abbott complete the cast. The trailer made it look bloody, merciless, and absolutely silly. The CGI also looked terrible.

Taylor-Johnson recently admitted in an interview that, in preparation for his ‘Kraven’ role, he studied the life and art of late wildlife photographer Peter Beard and actually stalked a deer. He’s going full method on this one.

In an interview with Collider, “Kraven the Hunter” producer Matt Tolmach has alleged that the film was given its new December release date because Sony wants to accommodate all the audiences they believe will be clamoring to watch the film “over and over again” during the holiday break.

“That was a real reflection of how the studio felt about the movie,” he added. “We’re really excited. But that’s a great move that reflects just the feeling about the movie.”