Why Madame Web Bombed At The Box Office
Should Sony Pictures blame superhero fatigue or poor word-of-mouth for "Madame Web's" failure at the box office? After months of anticipation and ridicule, the Dakota Johnson-starring superhero flick finally graced multiplexes on Valentine's Day. It's been a long road for the heavily clowned "Madame Web," which is set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. When the first look at the picture debuted in November 2023, viewers criticized the film's production value and dialogues, dubbing the film another "Morbius" level bomb for Sony Pictures.
With a modest $80 million budget, "Madame Web" grossed just $6 million on Valentine's Day. It was by no means a disastrous start, especially for a C-list Spider-Man character only known to die-hard fans, but as the weekend continued, it became clear: "Madame Web" is just the latest superhero pic to bomb at the box office. Deadline says the pic grossed $25.8 million over its six-day weekend, coming in at second place, behind "Bob Marley: One Love."
The writing has been on the wall for quite some time. "Madame Web" was never going to be a breakout, bonafide hit like Sony's very own "Venom," largely due to the poor reception the film dealt up months prior to its release. As expected, the marketing painted a solid picture of the film's reception, with "Madame Web" receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. As of this writing, the Johnson vehicle boasts a 13% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the worst-reviewed superhero films in recent memory, alongside "Morbius."
Despite its modest and economical budget, "Madame Web" was doomed from the start thanks to poor fan feedback, divisive marketing, and reliance on unfamiliar characters. Then there's the superhero fatigue of it all, which suggests Sony should have taken this one back to the drawing board.
Madame Web is a critical misfire
From the first look at "Madame Web," it became clear that this wasn't a marquee offering from Sony Pictures, who has seen significant success with their "Venom" films. When "Madame Web" finally debuted, reviews eagerly chewed the film out, labeling it a forgettable mess. Looper critic Alistair Ryder was more forgiving than other members from the press, labeling it a "campy good time." But even if there was humor to be found in the trainwreck, Ryder was still unimpressed with the picture, writing, "It's a frustrating case of a film neither living up to its potential as an uncomplicated so-bad-its-good romp nor capitalizing on its unique moments to become something that transcends the franchise it's encased in," ultimately giving it a 4/10.
Audiences who showed up on opening night were equally displeased with Dakota Johnson's latest, giving it a negative C+ CinemaScore — a death sentence for a big-budget superhero blockbuster. For context, that's the same score 2022's "Morbius" received. Those who were curious about the film, either because of its quality or cinematic depiction of Madame Web, went and saw it on opening night. But as the disastrous opening weekend numbers confirm, this film won't have the spider legs to be a triumph at the box office because of poor word-of-mouth and overwhelmingly negative reviews. Those eager to spend the weekend at the cinemas had far better options in the form of the fan-favorite biopic "Bob Marley: One Love" or the enduring romantic-comedy "Anyone But You."
As "Madame Web" continues its box office run, expect poor feedback to be one of the main causes of why this film failed at the box office.
The hilarious conversation surrounding Madame Web
Poor reception went hand-in-hand with the conversation surrounding the film. Some might say that "any press is good press," but that isn't true for a film that carries an $80 million budget before marketing, and likely needs a $200 million+ showing to be considered a profit. As soon as the first look at "Madame Web" hit the internet, trolls, jokesters, and even members of the press began to ridicule the picture. Within hours of its release, many began to clown Dakota Johnson's line reading of "he was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died."
That line took on a life of its own, becoming the subject of several memes. That piece of dialogue (which isn't even in the film) is just an example of how social media turned "Madame Web" into a laughing stock months before release. A huge portion of the internet, which includes cinephiles, actively rooted for the film to fail. As social media continues to make or break films, general audiences are eager to see what online buzz is before a film's release. If all they're seeing if negativity and trolling, chances are they'll take their dollars elsewhere, no matter how much brand recognition a film has.
And for what it's worth, "Madame Web" does have brand recognition. The film's trailer doesn't shy away from emphasizing how it's a story deeply rooted in the "Spider-Man" mythos. Beyond that, the film boasts two leading talents in the form of Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney. While the former isn't a major box office draw, the latter is a rising star who has proven that she can get butts into theatres — the success of the $190 million "Anyone But You" proves that.
Dakota Johnson's sour remarks aren't helping Madame Web
It's one thing for audiences to turn on a movie, but it's another for its lead star to subtly point out just how disappointing their latest effort is. As press junkets for "Madame Web" went underway, Dakota Johnson didn't shy away from being brutally honest about the current state of the film industry, strategically throwing jabs at the superhero pic. While chatting with Entertainment Weekly, she discussed how working with the film's use of blue screen was jarring. "[...] there's fake explosions going off, and someone's going, 'Explosion!' and you act like there's an explosion," she said, calling it "absolutely psychotic." The actress continued by casting doubt on the overall product, saying, "I was like, 'I don't know if this is going to be good at all! I hope that I did an okay job!'"
When it came time to perform her opening monologue on "Saturday Night Live," Johnson labeled "Madame Web" described the film as "if AI created your boyfriend's favorite movie" when discussing Sydney Sweeney's inclusion. Johnson isn't outright mocking her film, but she's definitely having fun by expressing her frustrations, which was immediately noticed by social media.
If we speculate, there's reason to believe Johnson isn't interested in the film at all. Variety says that Johnson ditched her agency days after the film's first trailer debuted, a move that the outlet said "raised industry eyebrows." And while speaking with Planet Radio (via Games Radar), Johnson revealed that she hadn't watched the film, and didn't plan to any time soon, postponing her viewing to "someday." Did Johnson's comments impact the film's box office? That's hard to say. But they did blend into the overall conversation and reception of the picture.
Superhero fatigue is alive and well
The last year has been nothing short of disastrous for the superhero genre. Following the highs of "Avengers: Endgame" and "Aquaman," the genre hasn't been able to fully reach the same prolific heights. Since 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," no superhero flick has crossed over $1 billion, and it doesn't look like the genre will return to those glory days anytime soon. Last year, Marvel Studios dealt with maligned failures in the form of "The Marvels" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," with their streaming offerings receiving mixed-to-negative reviews. DC didn't have any winners either, receiving back-to-back-to-back bombs thanks to "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," "The Flash," and "Blue Beetle."
Financial receipts show that the superhero genre is following a downward trend, with audiences actively rejecting the latest releases in favor of bolder films like "Barbie," "Oppenheimer," and "Wonka." Sony Pictures is in a particularly peculiar position as it only has the rights to Spider-Man-adjacent characters, which means they have to make do with B and C-list characters to form their own cinematic universe. But seeing as major superhero films like "The Marvels" are bombing because of increasing disinterest, was Sony right to invest $80 million in "Madame Web," a character that only diehard fans know?
Probably not. The opening weekend confirms that the film doesn't have much wide appeal to general audience members. The superhero gold rush is over and Sony should know by now. The days of B-list characters like "Shang-Chi" and the "Guardians of the Galaxy" grossing over $220 million domestic are done, and it's time for Sony to go back to the drawing board.
How far can Madame Web go?
Over six days, "Madame Web" failed to elicit the same responses as other pics like "Venom" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," making Dakota Johnson's latest another misfire for the superhero genre. With a $25.8 million showing, it's fair to say that "Madame Web" won't have much longevity in cinemas. If the reviews had been stellar, walk-ups would have manifested, resulting in solid legs for the next few weeks before "Dune: Part Two" arrives. Unfortunately, this one won't have the privilege of enduring as it's not stirring up any excitement whatsoever with fans of the genre.
While the $25.8 million number is above initial estimates, this is not a breakout hit like "Bob Marley: One Love," which had a six-day showing of $46 million — almost double what "Madame Web" brought in. With a lukewarm debut, except "Madame Web" to have a sharp drop next weekend as the curiosity factor dissipates. The film will likely bow out of multiplexes with a $50 to $55 million domestic total, a number that some pundits might even consider too liberal. Whatever scenario manifests for "Madame Web," it's almost out of the question if it'll outgross the domestic total of "Morbius," which stands at $73 million. A worldwide total is looking like $100 million, but trends show that international viewers are just as indifferent about superhero films as we are stateside.
What can Sony learn from "Madame Web" flopping? Make a good movie and audiences will show up. Unlike most Hollywood franchise flicks, Sony did the right thing by giving "Madame Web" a minimal, sleek $80 million budget. But the final product just didn't interest fans. Now, all eyes are on Sony's latest Spider-flick: "Kraven the Hunter." Here's hoping that'll turn a profit.