By LINDSEY BAHR (AP Film Writer)
The summer movie season may kick off next weekend, but the release calendar is still a work in progress. The latest movie to shift spots is Sony’s comic book film “Kraven the Hunter,” which will now open in December instead of on Labor Day weekend.
The studio announced the move late Friday, leaving Disney and Marvel’s “ Deadpool & Wolverine ” as the only major superhero release of the summer. It’s due out July 26.
“Kraven the Hunter” stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the Spider-Man villain in the J.C. Chandor-directed origin story, which will be rated R. The cast also includes Ariana DeBose, Alessandro Nivola and Russell Crowe. Its one of several Sony Spider-Man spinoffs, including “Venom” and “Madame Web.”
The new theatrical release date is Dec. 13, putting it up against the animated “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.”
The studio had previously scheduled its new “Karate Kid” film — with Ralph Maccio and Jackie Chan — to open on that date, but pushed it back to May 2025. The film is scheduled to follow the sixth and final season of “Cobra Kai,” which was delayed by Hollywood strikes.
Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian predicted previously that this summer’s box office would come up short of 2023’s $4 billion summer. The loss of a major wide release doesn’t help the forecast. Sony did add its Blumhouse horror story “They Listen,” with John Cho, Katherine Waterston, to the Labor Day weekend spot as a replacement for “Kraven the Hunter.”