Madame Web - 2024
The debacle at the box office surrounding Madame Web transcended the instance of just another superhero film flopping; instead, it became a kind of marker for an entire year of superhero failures that culminated in Madame Web's critical and box-office drubbing. Reviews were harsh and, in some cases, merciless in a way that might not have been possible a year earlier. The year 2023 didn't begin with that kind of apprehension about superhero movies, but 2024 did.
The expectation going into 2023 was that films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Flash were arriving in an environment that remained particularly welcoming to big-budget superhero movies with stars emblazoned across their casts. Instead, Quantumania started a snowball of underwhelming box-office performances rolling downhill. It proceeded to pick up speed, crushing nearly everything superhero-related in its path and accumulating the debris of the year's other crashed movies along the way.
That snowball finally landed squarely on Madame Web, a film that arrived burdened with exceedingly low expectations. By then, mainstream reviewers seemed to feel entirely free to reject the movie in unusually unkind terms. Rolling Stone's review essentially summed up the prevailing attitude: You heard Madame Web was bad? It's actually much worse.
The film does deserve a negative review, but in actual fact, it starts off reasonably well, and the first half or so is perfectly acceptable, and even, in some ways, unique in how it handles its material. The cast is trying to do what it can to carry the story forward, and in that first half we get some genuinely insightful moments showing us how an EMT worker (Dakota Johnson) lives with saving lives and encountering disaster on the streets as simply part of her day-to-day job. It is in the latter half of the film that the efforts of the director, editor, and screenwriters begin to descend into a messy and, in places, unintentionally funny movie.
A tepid defense for Madame Web
There are far worse superhero movies out there
"Madame Web Is Hilariously Short Of A Box Office Milestone, Adding Insult To Injury" – MSN /Film
The article laments... or is it mocking? that Madame Web has stalled at $99,312,851 at the international box office. The "milestone" it speaks of is crossing the $100 million barrier. The film is, of course, a huge earnings disappointment for Sony and its plans for an expanded franchise of Spider-Man-related characters. But what is being decided now, as the film limps toward being pulled from theaters, is whether people will remember it in the future as, "It didn’t even make a hundred million!" or, "It just cleared a hundred million!"
Dakota Johnson : I never want to make a film like Madame Web again – Total Film
The easiest way to understand that remark would be to say, yes, who wants to make a bomb? But elsewhere Johnson has complained that during the making of the much maligned Madame Web she saw creative decisions were being made by committee and the executives in production were trumping the actual filmmakers, that the film was being made by "algorithms."
Does the Madame Web fiasco mean change?
"Sony's Madame Web fiasco: The demise of a new franchise signals a studio's need for change"
Story at Desimartini
January 29, 2024
Madame Web hype gearing up: posters and pre-release tickets – Comicbookmovie
Current projections point to a $25 million opening weekend, a figure well below even Morbius (which debuted with $39 million). It's also a far cry from Venom's $80 million debut and Venom: Let There Be Carnage's $90 million haul.
Dakota Johnson won't watch Madame Web either – MSN CNN News
Sony is reportedly unhappy with Dakota Johnson for "dragging" 'MADAME WEB' and not "taking any responsibility" when she admitted she hadn't seen the film
— ScreenTime (@screentime) March 9, 2024
“Producers and Sony aren't laughing over Dakota's continued dragging of how she sees the fallout of Madame Web and how she… pic.twitter.com/wsXidhoHdC
Madame Web at $92,394,699 for global box-office – Source: The-Numbers
The reported production budget on Madame Web is $80 million.
Madame Web cannot catch a break
"Madame Web Is a Low Point for Superhero Movies" – Yahoo - Reason
"Dakota Johnson's new 'Madame Web' movie is awful, but her Gucci premiere dress is perfection" – MSN USA Today
Madame Web "unravels" while Bob Marley film tops box office – NY Times
One Love landed in what has become a box office sweet spot — stories that feel both nostalgic and new — while the Spider-Man spinoff is another sign that the comics-character boom is over..."
The Madame Web reviews are coming in
"Madame Web is a love letter to the golden age of bad comic book movies" – The Verge
"Sony's Latest Live-Action Spider-Verse Experiment Doesn’t Know Why It Exists Either" – Cinema Blend
‘"Madame Web' Critic Reviews Are Brutal: "Hilariously Bad, Embarrassing Mess"" – Hollywood Reporter
"‘Madame Web’ Isn’t As Bad As You’ve Heard. It’s So Much Worse" – Rolling Stones
Madame Web
Sony release preview trailer for Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney.
Adam Scott joins cast for Madame Web – Deadline
... In the comics, Madame Web is depicted as an elderly woman with myasthenia gravis and thus was connected to a life-support system that looked like a spider web. Due to her age and medical condition, Madame Web never actively fought any villains. For that reason, sources have stressed it’s possible the project could turn into something else. Insiders say that due to her psychic sensory powers, she is essentially Sony’s version of Doctor Strange.
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Original page April 9, 2024 | Updated Feb 5, 2025