Sony Pictures Reveals New Details on Kraven the Hunter, Karate Kid: Legends and Venom The Last Dance (2024)

James Gisante attended the Sony Pictures New York Comic Con panel for CBR on Thursday, and here is his recap of the panel - BC

Sony Pictures was the talk of the town at New York Comic Con as their highly anticipated panel gave the packed Empire Stage a first look at some of their upcoming blockbusters. Hosted by Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Con attendees were given insight into Kraven the Hunter, a first look at Karate Kid: Legends and an in depth conversation and extended peek at Venom: The Last Dance.

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Everything We Know About Kraven the Hunter (So Far)

Kraven the Hunter may end up being the last entry in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, with the film bringing Sergei Kravinoff's origins to the big screen.

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What did Sony reveal about Kraven the Hunter?

Starting the parade of special guests that would appear throughout the panel was Kraven the Hunter’s director, J.C. Chandor. Horowitz quickly endeared Chandor to the crowd as he started the conversation, acknowledging J.C.’s first Comic Con appearance and the fact that he was wearing a New York Mets hat, a detail that brought quite the reaction from the crowd.

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Quickly moving onto business, Chandor spoke about the tough decision it was to take the job as director of Kraven, citing the time and commitment it takes to make films like these, but revealed that Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie was the first film he had ever seen in theaters and helped guide him towards his career as a director. Admitting he had been offered other superhero films in the past, it was the idea that the Kraven character had never appeared on-screen before and that there would be a challenge in creating a whole new world and casting characters that appealed to Chandor. After doing a deep dive of Kraven’s history in the comics and understanding the intensity that came with the character, it was the script for the film that sealed the deal for the filmmaker.

Chandor then compared the upcoming film to old gangster films and said that it has a classic journey but with a Marvel spin. Horowitz then brought up the much talked about R-rating that the movie will have, mentioning the brutality, edginess and violence that audiences will now expect. Chandor credits the studio with giving him and his team the opportunity to explore making the film R-rated and that it opened them up to having a somewhat Grindhouse feel and going deeper with intense character work.

Horowitz then listed several of Chandor’s past credits and his affinity for morally complex characters. Admitting that he has a fascination with the gray area of the human experience, Chandor explains that he believes nobody starts their lives wishing to be the villain and that a lot of people who are villains don’t realize it. Moving back to Kraven, Chandor explains the challenge of telling the story of a man who starts out believing he’s making just decisions until fate changes course.

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Summing up his feelings on the film, Chandor is proud of the movie and is excited that he made a good Marvel film. Citing the action and deep world of Marvel, Chandor mentions bringing Rhino to life and taking the film seriously, while being most proud of finding a tonal balance where the story takes itself seriously but doesn’t forget to have fun in the process.

The audience was then shown the opening of the film, but not before being warned of it’s graphic nature. Telling the crowd to cover the eyes of the children who may have been in attendance, there was no exaggeration when describing the violence that was shown. Showing a litany of bloody action and graphic killings, Kraven the Hunter has absolutely earned it’s R-rating and leans heavily into the freedom of gore.

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After the footage aired, Chandor and Horowitz introduced the star of the film, Aaron Taylor Johnson, with Chandor stating that Johnson was born to play the character. Johnson received an incredibly warm welcome as he walked out to Johnny Cash’s The Man Comes Around. Mentioning Kraven’s iconic imagery and physicality, Johnson wanted to inhabit his complexity and depth as a villain who made a choice to be a hunter and killer.

Acknowledging his previous controversial statements that Kraven was a “conservationist”, Johnson says Kraven respects his prey and that he’s an apex predator and the top of the food chain. He then emphasized that Kraven is a hunter not a poacher and every hunter knows you have cull the herd to preserve order and that things begin to get dark when he starts to apply that to humans. The Kraven team then previewed another scene from the film that further showcases the intense violence and action that will leave fans unable to ever look at bear traps the same way.

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The Kraven section of the panel ended with a giveaway to select members of the audience and Kraven cosplayers joining the stage and taking a group picture with Johnson and Chandor.

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What did Sony reveal about Karate Kid: Legends?

Sony Pictures Reveals New Details on Kraven the Hunter, Karate Kid: Legends and Venom The Last Dance (3)

Transitioning over to the Karate Kid: Legends portion of the event, Horowitz did most of the heavy lifting as none of the cast or crew were able to join the panel, but the excitement was still palpable as the first poster of the film was unveiled. Not only giving fans their first look at Ralph Macchio’s legendary Daniel Larusso side by side with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han of the 2010 remake, the new protagonist of the film, Li Fong, played by Ben Wang, was also finally introduced.

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That wasn’t all as the crowd was also given a first look at the trailer for the movie. With brief messages from both Jackie Chan and Ralph Macho, fans were in awe as the trailer invoked memories of both the 1984 original and the 2010 remake. Despite not having the spectacle from the beginning portion of the panel, Karate Kid: Legends continued the buzz of excitement for Sony Pictures.

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Venom and Eddie Brock embark on their last adventure together in Venom: The Last Dance, alongside a group of interesting Marvel characters.

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What did Sony have to reveal about Venom: The Last Dance?

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Finally moving onto the last portion of the panel, Josh Horowitz hyped the crowd up for Venom: The Last Dance. It didn’t take much as he was soon joined by stars Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, writer/director Kelly Marcel and Venom himself, Tom Hardy. Waiting for the raucous crowd to finally settle down, Josh asked Hardy about the long journey that he’s had with the character and franchise. Hardy reveals it’s been seven years since he started with the role, and it’s finally time to go to sleep. He shares his love for Eddie Brock and Venom and is sad to go.

Marcel spoke on the importance of the comics and how the Lethal Protector comics have always been the focus for the creative team. Hardy, who is also the co-writer of the film, joked that he would come up with these “fantastic ideas” that he would reveal to Marcel and she would come back with a refined vision of his concepts. Hardy was then asked about the importance of not just acting in the film but co-writing it as well. Describing himself as a storyteller, Hardy is so ingrained in the character that just using acting as aperture wasn’t enough.

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Moving to the film’s co-stars, Ejiofor and Temple talk about their characters’ relationship in the film and both joke about their history in the genre, with it being noted that this film/panel brings about a The Dark Knight Rises reunion for Hardy and Temple despite Hardy not remembering her being in the film due to the fact that they shared no scenes. Temple then went on to speak about the honor of being invited to this film and understanding the gravity of what had already been established.

Hardy was then asked about the process of playing with/against himself. He jokingly called it “good”, noting that he very rarely falls out with himself and that those battles happen in private. Having already had a lot of experience speaking to himself, Hardy called it old hat and very comfortable. Detailing the technical process and how many people were involved in creating the back and forth between Eddie and Venom, Hardy revealed he could go on and on about the process but refrained in fear of highlighting his place on the spectrum.

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Marcel then spoke about the importance of being a female filmmaker and her history with the franchise, having been involved with Tom and the story since the original film. She then thanked the studio for allowing her the opportunity to oversee the process from start to finish. Hardy then interjected, noting that he and Marcel have been working together for years and that it’s an extra special instance because this is Marcel’s first film ever. Beyond some playful joking, Hardy backs her in the role as director completely.

Moving onto what could possibly come next, the crew confirmed this is indeed the last Venom film. They had always envisioned it as a trilogy and Eddie and Venom’s arc finishes with this film, but Marcel notes that there are many symbiote stories in the canon and this film tries to establish more to come for the universe. Horowitz then asked about the possibility of Venom finally fighting Spider-man and Hardy joked that he would fight Spider-Man right then and there on that day. They finally spoke about the much anticipated Knull character and Marcel noted that he’s such a massive character and his appearance in the film couldn’t be done in one contained story and he will hopefully show up in several stories in the future.

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The panel finally wrapped with the crew sharing footage from the film that left the crowd buzzing with excitement and laughing at the typical Venom shenanigans that have become synonymous with the franchise. The audience was sent home with posters and free IMAX movie tickets to enjoy the film on opening weekend and Tom Hardy showcased what a gentleman he truly is by spending an absurd amount of time signing autographs and taking pictures with every fan who asked.

Overall, an excellent panel that lived up to the hype. Allowing three separate films to be highlighted and getting the fans more and more enthralled seemed like a daunting task, but Sony more than delivered and the crowd went home very happy and, more importantly, very excited about the future of Sony Pictures.

Sony Pictures Reveals New Details on Kraven the Hunter, Karate Kid: Legends and Venom The Last Dance (2024)
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