Last weekend, two films emerged as colossal failures at the domestic box office: The Lord of The Rings: The War of The Rohirrim and Kraven The Hunter.
A screenshot from the trailer to Kraven the Hunter – YouTube, Sony Pictures Entertainment
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Both films debuted with little fanfare. The animated Lord of The Rings film, distributed by Warner Bros., continued the trend started by Amazon with The Rings of Power, trying to “modern day” Tolkien’s classic work. The movie is ripe with girl boss moments and injections of modern diversity requirements. But if the weekend box office totals are any indication, audiences appear to be done with modern day Tolkien adaptations.
The War of The Rohirrim drew just $4.5 million on 2,602 screens. Including the international box office, the film grossed a little over $8 million in its opening weekend. The budget for this animated film was around $30 million. Factoring in marketing and theater cuts, War of The Rohirrim will need to earn more than $100 million to turn a profit.
A still from The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024), Warner Bros. Pictures
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That seems unlikely, especially with the box office gearing up for a major battle between Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King this weeked.
Kraven The Hunter, the final entry in Sony’s much-maligned Spider-Man villain spin-off universe (which doesn’t feature Spider-Man), performed better than The Lord of The Rings at the box office but still earned only $11 million domestically. Including international box office numbers, it reached $26 million on a reported $130 million budget.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven the Hunter – YouTube, Marvel Entertainment
Again, when factoring in marketing costs, theater cuts, and its incredibly poor critical reception, it’s unlikely that Kraven will find any path to profitability. This makes it the most recent Sony Spider-verse failure, joining Morbius and Madame Web.
Even Sony’s Venom trilogy faced issues. Although all three films technically turned a profit, each suffered from diminishing returns. That’s not what a studio wants to see when building a franchise.
A screenshot from Venom: The Last Dance (2024), Sony Pictures
The Lord of the Rings and Kraven The Hunter lost out at the box office to Moana 2, which continued its run at the top (despite a significant drop from its huge opening). They also lost to Wicked, the adaptation of the Broadway musical, which continues to show strength domestically but will likely not cross the billion-dollar mark due to underwhelming overseas performance.
Are you at all surprised by the box office performances of The Lord of The Rings: The War of The Rohirrim and Kraven The Hunter? Will Hollywood studios learn any lessons about giving audiences what they actually want? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
