Superhero movies have experienced a bit more of a rough time than usual in a post-pandemic world. From the struggles that the DC Extended Universe was already facing to Marvel Studios' struggles relaunching the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Endgame, it just hasn't been as smooth-sailing for the genre that dominated Hollywood throughout the 2010s. Of course, there is still plenty of domination with a lot of heavy-hitters, but it's not all as foolproof as it once was.
Since 2020, there have been a number of box office failures within the superhero genre. Some were already anticipated (due to either the franchise they belonged to or the lack of interest in their central character) but some were unanticipated too, which highlights how unpredictable things have become in today's day and age.
Sony Pictures' Universe of Marvel Characters, however, is a franchise that hasn't appealed to the fans' good nature. Outside of the extremely successful Venom movies (which fans grew weary of with each release), it hasn't had a hit. And last year, in particular, proved to be a rough year for the franchise as two of its movies bombed at the box office. Now, one of the stars have spoken out.
Dakota Johnson opens up about Madame Web failure
Hollywood star Dakota Johnson is getting honest about her feelings towards Madame Web. In a new interview with LA Times ahead of her next movie The Materialists, she spoke about the failure of the 2024 movie, opening with "It wasn't my fault".
"There’s this thing that happens now where a lot of creative decisions are made by committee. Or made by people who don’t have a creative bone in their body. And it’s really hard to make art that way. Or to make something entertaining that way. And I think unfortunately with Madame Web, it started out as something and turned into something else. And I was just sort of along for the ride at that point."
Johnson isn't wrong. Madame Web was always going to be an uphill battle from a marketing standpoint given that the character isn't well-known to mainstream audiences but that didn't mean it couldn't have been a good movie. Unfortunately, the film was criticized for pacing issues, choppy editing, and bad storytelling - so much so that it became a subject of "social media dragging" where fans created memes to make fun of how notorious the movie was.
This was a constant issue among the Sony Marvel movies and it became clear that it was going to impact Madame Web when a poorly-edited line of dialogue in one of its trailers blew up on social media before the film was released. That line ultimately wasn't even in the movie as it was two sentences edited together.
Madame Web reportedly went through multiple variations throughout its lifespan, inclding before it even got to production. One of those variations would have included Tom Holland's Spider-Man - the same Spider-Man who is currently a part of the MCU. But plans changed and the final version of the movie was, well, not-well-regarded. It currently holds an 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $100 million on an $80 million budget.
Although Sony would find success later that year with Venom: The Last Dance, the fatigue in the franchise was clear as both the second and third Venom movies each grossed half of what the first one did. And then Kraven the Hunter - an R-rated action movie about a more well-known Marvel character which starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson - performed significantly worse than Madame Web, seemingly bringing Sony's Spider-Verse to a close.
Had Madame Web been made by Marvel Studios as part of the MCU, then maybe the story would have been different. Granted, the studio has had its own underperformers recently, but both the franchise-recognition and the more care taken with the story likely would have resulted in the Dakota Johnson-led film being a lot less incoherent.
Although the star is taking it all as it is, acknowledging that "Bigger-budget movies fail all the time", she's correct in saying that a more creative, less business-driven approach to making Madame Web would have made it a far stronger movie.
But hey, it's been a major hit on Netflix since its arrival on that platform, so at least it's getting some love after all!