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‘Kraven the Hunter’ Flops while ‘Moana 2’ Tops Box Office Again

This image released by Disney shows the character Moana, voiced by Auli'i Cravalho, in a scene from "Moana 2." (Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows the character Moana, voiced by Auli'i Cravalho, in a scene from "Moana 2." (Disney via AP)
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‘Kraven the Hunter’ Flops while ‘Moana 2’ Tops Box Office Again

This image released by Disney shows the character Moana, voiced by Auli'i Cravalho, in a scene from "Moana 2." (Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows the character Moana, voiced by Auli'i Cravalho, in a scene from "Moana 2." (Disney via AP)

The Spider-Man spinoff “Kraven the Hunter” got off to a disastrous start in North American theaters this weekend.
The movie starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson earned only $11 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, making it one of the worst openings for a Marvel-adjacent property. Its box office take was even less than the film “Madame Web,” The Associated Press reported.
The weekend's other major studio release was Warner Bros.’ animated “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” which made $4.6 million. Made for about $30 million, the movie is set 183 years before the events of “The Lord of the Rings” films and was fast-tracked to ensure New Line did not lose the rights to Tolkien’s novels. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have been working on future live-action films for the franchise.
Meanwhile, the top of the charts again belonged to “Moana 2" and “Wicked.”
“Moana” added $26.6 million to its domestic total in its third weekend and $57.2 million internationally, bringing its global tally to $717 million. It's now the fourth highest grossing film of the year, surpassing “Dune: Part Two."
“Wicked,” which is in its fourth weekend, brought in another $22.5 million to take second place. The Universal musical has made over $359 million domestically and over $500 million worldwide.
“Gladiator II” also made $7.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $145.9 million in four weeks.
“Kraven the Hunter” is the latest misfire from Sony in its attempt to mine the Spider-Man universe for spin-off franchises without the lucrative web slinger himself. “Kraven” joins “Madame Web” and “Morbius” in franchise additions that fell flat with both audiences and critics. The one exception on this rollercoaster journey has been the “Venom” trilogy, which has made over $1.8 billion worldwide.
The R-rated “Kraven the Hunter” was directed by J.C. Chandor and faced a number of delays, partly due to the Hollywood strikes. It was shot nearly three years ago and originally slated to hit theaters in January 2023. The film cost a reported $110 million to produce and was co-financed by TSG. Internationally, it made $15 million, but its potential for longevity appears limited: It currently carries a 15% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and got a C grade on CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences.
“It’s not always a guarantee that you’ll be able to connect with audiences when you have a spinoff character," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “General audiences seem to want to know exactly what they’re getting.”
Several awards contenders opened in limited release over the weekend, including Paramount’s “September 5” about ABC's coverage of the Munich Olympics hostage crisis. Amazon MGM and Orion's “Nickel Boys,” based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winner about an abusive reform school in Florida, opened in two theaters in New York. It averaged $30,422 per screen and will be expanding to Los Angeles before going nationwide in the coming weeks.
The box office has seen a dramatic recovery since June, when it was down nearly 28% from the previous year. The deficit now stands at 4.8%.
Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

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Entertainment

‘The Brutalist’ Cast Beams over Breadth of Film’s Story

This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody in a scene from "The Brutalist." (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody in a scene from "The Brutalist." (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP)
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‘The Brutalist’ Cast Beams over Breadth of Film’s Story

This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody in a scene from "The Brutalist." (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody in a scene from "The Brutalist." (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP)

The cast of the film “The Brutalist” is giving their director Brady Corbet all the credit when it comes to the strong acclaim for the movie.

“He's a special filmmaker because he focuses on psychology and behavior and those things that we as actors are genuinely interested in,” said Guy Pearce, who plays wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren.

“So, it was a real treat from start to finish,” he added.

The movie is an epic tale of a Hungarian immigrant who flees the horrors of World War Two to rebuild his life in the United States, and stars Oscar-winner Adrien Brody in the leading role of the architect Laszlo Toth.

"The Brutalist", which has a three-hour and 35-minute runtime and comes with a 15-minute intermission, was co-written by Corbet's wife, Mona Fastvold.

It was successful at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this year, with Corbet winning the best director prize.

The film, distributed by A24, arrives in movie theaters on Dec. 20 in the United States.

Brody, who had read the script nearly six years ago, expressed his deep connection to the story and his character through both his Hungarian-born mother and grandfather.

“Her [his mother’s] journey as an artist, her pursuits as an artist are deeply profound and linked to this,” he said.

For Brody, the role connected him with his mother’s yearning to leave something of great meaning behind, which was enhanced when contrasted with an understanding of hardship.

He also thought of his own grandfather's struggles with language and assimilation as a foreigner without work opportunities or respect.

“That (respect) was lost and taken from him,” Brody added.

His grandfather, fleeing from home due to the war, largely shaped the actor’s perspective of his role.

For “The Theory of Everything” actress Felicity Jones, who portrays Toth’s wife in the film, Erzsebet Toth, some of the most compelling aspects of the film are its characters and unique storytelling style.

“These characters, particularly Laszlo and Erzsebet, you know, they're doing everything they can to preserve their integrity and their self-worth,” she said.

Brody was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for best performance for a male actor in a motion picture drama and is receiving Oscar buzz for his role.

For “The Pianist” actor, having a strong team was key to the power of the film.

“In order to do work on this level, you need all of those to conspire with you and not against you,” Brody said.