Development Director
Sam Raimi planned to include the
Marvel Comics character
Kraven the Hunter in his
fourth Spider-Man film before that project was canceled in favor of
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), a
reboot of the franchise.
Sony Pictures announced plans in December 2013 for
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) to establish a
shared universe—inspired by the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)—based on the Marvel properties they held the rights to. Kraven was teased in that film, with its director
Marc Webb expressing interest in seeing the character appear on film. In February 2015, Sony and
Marvel Studios announced a new partnership to co-produce the film
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and integrate the
Spider-Man character with Marvel's MCU. In May 2017, Sony announced its own shared universe, later named "
Sony's Spider-Man Universe" (SSU). Sony intended this to be "adjunct" to their MCU Spider-Man films, featuring Spider-Man related properties beginning with
Venom (2018). The studio was considering a Kraven film for the universe. Simultaneously, director
Ryan Coogler hoped to include the character in his MCU film
Black Panther (2018) because of a fight between
Black Panther and Kraven in
Christopher Priest's
Black Panther comic book run. Due to the film's outline being based on Priest's run, Coogler asked Marvel if they could use Kraven due to his admiration for
Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994–1998). Marvel asked Sony for permission to use the character, but Sony declined.
Richard Wenk was hired to write a screenplay for
Kraven the Hunter in August 2018, a month after the successful release of Sony's
The Equalizer 2 (2018), which he wrote. The project was billed as "the next chapter" of Sony's shared universe. Wenk was tasked with introducing Kraven to audiences and figuring out which character he could hunt in the film since Spider-Man, considered to be Kraven's "
white whale" in the comic books, was unlikely to appear due to the MCU deal. Whether the film would target adult audiences would depend on the audience response to
Venom darker approach. In October, Wenk said he was "cracking" the story and tone of the film before beginning scripting. He intended to adhere to the character's comic book lore, including by featuring Kraven fighting Spider-Man. Wenk said Sony intended to adapt the ''
Kraven's Last Hunt (1987) comic book storyline, and there were ongoing discussions over whether to do that in this film or a later one. Wenk compared the latter approach to the two-part film Kill Bill (2003/2004). He expressed interest in having Equalizer'' director
Antoine Fuqua join the film; Fuqua considered directing Sony's Marvel-based film
Morbius (2022), and would decide on directing
Kraven based on the script. Sony confirmed that a film featuring Kraven was in development in March 2019.
Jon Watts, the director of
Homecoming and its sequel
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), expressed interest in featuring Kraven in a potential third
Spider-Man film set within the MCU; Watts
pitched a film pitting
Peter Parker / Spider-Man against Kraven to Spider-Man star
Tom Holland, but this idea was abandoned in favor of the
multiversal story of
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). By August 2020,
Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had re-written the script, after doing uncredited rewrites for
Morbius. At that time,
J.C. Chandor entered talks to direct the film, while
Matt Tolmach,
Avi Arad, and David Householter were set as producers. Chandor was confirmed as director in May 2021, when
Aaron Taylor-Johnson was cast to star as Kraven, and signed on to portray the character in multiple films. Sony had previously approached actors such as
Brad Pitt,
Keanu Reeves,
John David Washington and
Adam Driver for the role, with
Lewis Pullman also auditionining, but Sony executives moved quickly to cast Taylor-Johnson after they were "blow[n] away" by early footage of him in the film
Bullet Train (2022). Taylor-Johnson began negotiations shortly after an initial phone call with Chandor and Tolmach. By July,
Jodie Turner-Smith was reportedly in talks to portray Kraven's love interest,
Calypso. That October, Holland said he and Pascal had discussed him potentially reprising his role as Spider-Man in the film. Neither Holland nor his character appeared in the finished film; according to a Sony source who spoke to
Variety,
The Walt Disney Company, which held the rights to the MCU, never forbade Sony from using Holland or the Peter Parker/Spider-Man character, with the character appearing in the
Sony Pictures Animation feature film
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), but Sony felt that audiences would not accept Holland's live-action Spider-Man unexpectedly appearing in a non-MCU film, especially after
No Way Home and
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) established definitive boundaries for the MCU. The film was greenlit with a production budget of $90 million, but due to
the 2023 writers and actors strike the costs increased. The final cost was reportedly as high $130 million, but
Variety disputed this figure, estimating it cost "upward of $110 million".
Pre-production Russell Crowe was cast in an undisclosed role in early February 2022.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that many of the main characters in the film would be members of Kraven's family, with Crowe potentially portraying Kraven's father. By then,
Kodi Smit-McPhee had been offered the role of
Chameleon, Kraven's half-brother, but declined due to a scheduling conflict. Turner-Smith was also confirmed to have not been cast as Calypso. Later in February,
Fred Hechinger joined the cast, reportedly as Chameleon. In March, Ariana DeBose joined the cast, reportedly in the Calypso role,
Alessandro Nivola was cast as a villain, and
Christopher Abbott was cast as the film's main villain, which was reported to be the
Foreigner. Nivola said he joined the film to work with Chandor again after
A Most Violent Year (2014). Taylor-Johnson was preparing for stunt training with Chandor in England, just outside of London, for the following couple of weeks.
Filming Filming occurred in
Iceland in early February 2022, at
Lake Mývatn, using the
working title Safari.
TrueNorth Productions handled the production services, with an 80-person crew involved in the shooting over two days.
Principal photography began on March 20, 2022, in London, England, under the working title
Spiral.
Ben Davis served as cinematographer after doing so for several MCU films.
Levi Miller joined the cast in April, and DeBose confirmed that she was portraying Calypso in the film a month later when she had already been filming in London. In mid-June, Taylor-Johnson revealed that he had wrapped filming and stated that the film was shot entirely on location, which he said "add[ed] something really beautiful" to the personal story, and called it important for the authenticity of the character. Nivola also wrapped filming at that time, and said the characters' physical abilities in the film were grounded in reality, while Chandor described it as depicting the "most incredible Olympic athlete you've ever seen". Filming also took place in
Glasgow, Scotland.
Post-production In August 2022, Nivola stated that the film would include a time jump and that his character would only physically transform in the final act, so he was not required to do extensive
green screen work. He described it as a "classic villain role" with "complex psychology and personal history to draw on". The following month, Hechinger confirmed that he was portraying Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon. Later in September, the film's release date was delayed to October 6, 2023, from January 13, 2023. In April 2023, Crowe and Nivola were confirmed to be respectively portraying Kraven's father and the character
Rhino. Taylor-Johnson confirmed that the film would receive an
R rating by the
Motion Picture Association, the first SSU film and the first
Spider-Man related project overall to do so. Due to the
2023 SAG-AFTRA strike in July, the film's release date was delayed to August 30, 2024. In August 2023, the film's final writing credits were given: Wenk received sole credit for the story and shared credit for the screenplay with Marcum and Holloway, while off-screen additional literary credit was given to
Donny Cates, Chris Bremner, Chandor, Adamma Ebo, Adanne Ebo, Zak Olkewicz, and
Oren Uziel. In April 2024, the film's release date was further delayed to December 13, 2024, to avoid competition from other franchise films releasing around the prior August date. Tolmach also attributed the release delay as a strategic reflection of Sony's excitement for the film. Chandor felt that the delays allowed him to "sharpen" the characters and "tighten" the plot, deeming the reshoots strategic and effective. Despite the disastrous underperformance of
Madame Web (2024), Sony felt optimistic that
Kraven the Hunter would be more in line with the
Venom films, with Chandor opining that the film would surprise the audience once it released.
Chris Lebenzon serves as the film's editor.
Music Benjamin Wallfisch was hired in June 2023 to compose the score for the film. Sometime later, Sacha and
Evgueni Galperine were added as composers. == Marketing ==