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zakruti.com » Humor, fun and entertainment » Looper
Why Madame Web Bombed At The Box Office

Why Madame Web Bombed At The Box Office

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Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2
With a great budget comes great box-office responsibility — but should Sony Pictures blame superhero fatigue or poor word-of-mouth for "Madame Web's" financial failure? After months of ridicule, the Dakota Johnson-starring superhero flick finally graced multiplexes on Valentine's Day. It doesn't seem as if audiences were feeling the love. "ohhh, stop it! Stop it! Stop it! 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 dialogue, dubbing the film another "Morbius" level bomb for Sony Pictures. With a modest-by-superhero-film-standards $80 million budget, "Madame Web" grossed just $6 million on Valentine's Day. It's not necessarily a disastrous start, especially for a C-list Spider-Man character only known to die-hard fans. "Not you again." "I still have something very important for you to do." But as the weekend continued, it became clear: "Madame Web" was a big bomb at the box office. As you can see the numbers were not good. You don't need to have the clairvoyant powers of Cassie Webb to have seen this coming. The writing has been on the wall for quite some time. "Madame Web" was likely never going to be a breakout, bonafide hit like Sony's very own "Venom," largely due to the poor reception the film was webbed up in months prior to its release. "I can see the future." Apparently, so can we, because this movie always seemed like a bomb bigger than the one in "Oppenheimer." From the first look at "Madame Web," it became clear that this wasn't going to pull in "Venom" numbers. A critical misfire "Oh!" "She didn't see that coming." When "Madame Web" finally debuted, reviews eagerly chewed the film out, labeling it a forgettable mess. As of the making of this video, Sony's latest Spider-Man-less Spider-Man movie boasts a measly 14% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the worst-reviewed superhero films in recent memory, alongside "Morbius." Safe to say that most think the movie sucks. "You trying to be funny?" Looper critic Alistair Ryder was more forgiving than most 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." Audiences who showed up on opening night were equally displeased with Dakota Johnson's latest. "I have proof!" They gave it a C+ CinemaScore—which might as well be a death sentence for a big-budget superhero blockbuster. And 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." 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-plus showing to be considered a financial success. Why is that funny? 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, one line in particular went viral: "He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.". The combination of a line just a smidge too packed with exposition and Johnson's drab delivery turned it into comic gold, becoming the subject of several memes. And while the line didn't end up making it into the finished film, it's just one example of how social media turned "Madame Web" into a laughing stock months before release. 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 is 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. Sort of. 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 theaters . the success of the $170 million "Anyone But You" proves that. Of course, it doesn't seem she was able to pull it off here. "Anyone But You" succeeded, but for most audiences, "Madame Web" was "Anything But This." "Get up. Get out. You're going to die if you stay here." It's one thing for audiences to turn on a movie, but it's another for its lead star to not so subtly point out just how disappointing their latest effort is. The Johnson effect As press junkets for "Madame Web" got underway, Dakota Johnson was pretty 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. That to me was absolutely psychotic. 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 described the film as "So it's kind of like if AI generated your boyfriend's perfect movie." While it's not uncommon for an actor to joke about, or even poke fun at, one of their films— "After 'Batman & Robin' came out — it was a big bomb. You know?" "Was it?" "You learn from your failures. You know, you don't learn from successes." —Johnson's deadpan demeanor sure made it seem like she actively didn't appreciate the experience. "You don't have to know anything about anything. At all. To watch this movie." And there's reason to believe that we're not reading too much into that. 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, Johnson revealed that she hadn't watched the film, and didn't plan to any time soon. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't… It’s going to jinx it." "No?" "I don't want to talk about it." Did Johnson's comments impact the film's box office? Probably not, but they definitely added to a general vibe that something was wrong in the state of Sony. "Did I die?". 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 reach the same prolific heights. Just so tired of superheroes 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 any time soon. Last year, Marvel Studios dealt with 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? "I have always really loved Marvel movies." 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 that by now.
Date: 2024-02-19

Comments and reviews: 20


I think that Super Heroes movie going down because it's this interests but it is more that general superhero movies that are famously made back in the 90s. Many times when they actually first started out making Superior movies they were actually more campy and dialogues will not fine tuned. Compare Madame web with the low budget comic book movies back in the day like steel, meteor man, spawn, Lois and Clark The New adventures of Superman and many others. The biggest thing that actually was a success for superhero movies is that they tried to actually incorporate other aspects in genres into the movies and sells. Like blade is actually more of a vampire movie, Deadpool is more of an assassin, comedy, action film, Captain America Winter soldier was like a spy film, and others tried to fall asleep. That's probably why Batman movies do so well is because it was actually more of a investigation the wall feel to each one. If people try to actually just do a straight up superhero movie it actually doesn't do that well you. All the Spider-Man movies were more like coming to age movies with a superhero background. People usually forget is that superheroes are usually human type characters with a complex character background that needs to be explained but also show the emotions that they have to go through. It all comes down to relatability to each character. Everybody wants to be Tony Stark, everybody looks up to Captain america, but mostly everybody relates to Spider-Man in some way or fashion.
Personally I would like to be a consultant on these films.
For instance I would suggest that the 2014 Ninja turtles movie should not have been made but instead Street sharks should have been. But the people in charge of the movie business in studios probably wouldn't want to actually rely on a consultant and think that they know what to put out.
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I cant stand when people make up some bs like superhero Fatigue its not a real thing was there superhero Fatigue when spiderman no way home came out Nooooo there wasn't because it was written and directed by people that actually care about the projects they work on. Not the people hired by Kevin Feige the past 3 years that no nothing about comics or superheros its sad as long as they hire the right people that actually care about what projects there doing and want to be true to the source material so its not superhero Fatigue its bad movie Fatigue.
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Audiences aren't done with Superhero movies dude - audiences are done with BAD superhero movies. Big difference.
Marvel has still had far more hits than stinkers since No Way Home - but it was the suits at Disney that got greedy overdid it with all the Disney content.
And Warner Bros dead universe is also what led to all their movies crashing and burning.
Deadpool's first trailer alone already became the most-viewed trailer ever in its first 24 hrs. THATS what everyone's waiting for to come back. So slow down on the its over! nonsense.
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No one wanted the movie and is a sony quick fix to the marvels and its not even finished as the girls didn't really fight the guy.
The movie was stand alone so it got no hype from Spiderman.
Madame Web is an ancient lady in a wheelchair that they specifically ignored.
The movie has no cohesive narrative from start to finished. There are no heroes as the main character literally kidnaps the girls.
But don't worry, it's washed away in a few minutes just by like the police forget the crimes.
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I don't think superhero / comicbook fatigue is as big a factor as the public discourse is making it seem. What I do think is the case is that unless it's a Disney-Marvel production, the quality and care in any Sony-Marvel production that the public wants/needs isn't going to be there. I also think Sony/Columbia is too old-school-Hollywood, in that they're handling this how it would have been done back in the day because of how successful Venom was, believing that was the right path.
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I went to see it on Valentine's day and there were quite a few people there. And despite the reviews I enjoyed the movie. It isn't a Endgame or a Hunger Games level movie but it was pretty good and short enough to be entertaining.
Besides who in the hell thought a mid week opening is a smart move. It is just a movie of one more comic book character that hasn't been seen before. Now that door is open, it will be able to expand and get better with the multiverse.
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There could not be a worst final take on this video. You dunce, there is a reason shows like The Boys, and Invincible (both superhero shows) are extremely highly anticipated
They feature elements of entertaining cinema. Good writing, engaging storylines, powerful performances, compelling dialogue, and sensical plots. Don’t give horrible writers the out It’s not audience fatigue, it’s their crappy product.
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Unpopular opinion: Marvel messed up by exploring the multiverse immediately after Endgame. They should have focused on Spider-man and other street level heroes. Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, The Punisher and Ghost Rider. Marvel has a literal cornucopia of source material, yet with Disney in the driver seat, corporate greed with wrecking ball finesse has literally cost them billions.
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Why would I care about a spiderverse film series, without spiderman He's being used elsewhere, there will never be a payoff, and I just CBA to ever watch or care about any of this. And I love spiderman stuff, but this is all pointless. Hell I barely cared about the venom movie even and that was the last thing I'll watch of this Sony crap just skipped the second there really is no point to any of it.
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I’ll have to watch it myself. Sonny made two great Marvel movies at least lately and they were animated. Their live action movies of late have been OK at best. That’s said I recently watched The Marvels and really enjoyed it despite the talk. I mean it’s not the best Marvel movie but far from the worse. So I’ve learned over the years I have to see movies for myself to know for sure.
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Every box office bomb is blamed on super hero fatigue but this is not the case. I went to the movies again and again in hope the movies get better somehow or the Disney shows get better but i just had it after SheHulk. Someone wanna see how to earn 1billion wait for Deadpool to show you. Looper grow a back bone and say the madam web was God awful thats why it didn't work.
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Could these Sony Spiderverse movies be re-edited into something better
Maybe give the stories some actual stakes, mentions of characters/events from other Spider-verse movies, and a sense of leading up to some final destination, like how the early MCU movies (more or less) each led up to Thanos obtaining all of the Infinity Stones.
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the problem seems to be the writers rather than the superheroes, the scripts lack the bare minimum logic or consequence, a good movie brings people in eventually, house of the Dragon had to deal with an angry fandom, but the good quality makes the audience grow, into the spider-verse is still a very good movie that made over 300 million.
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Doesn't anyone understand that Sony doesn't care about making money, they just don't want Marvel Studios to get the movie rights back. Why give the property back when you can make money off of. Marvel Studios Spider-man movies. For Sony, it's better to get some money then give the movie rights back and get no money at all.
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It has nothing to do with the super hero genre. It has everything to do with the quality of the movies. Bad scripts, wrong actors, studios failing to read the room. The Marvels and Ant Man were awful. Loki was fantastic! It seems to me that studios are going for cash grabs, except Sony that loves losing money.
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People who are hating havent even watched the movie. It wasnt the best super hero movie but it wasnt that bad to watch either. Only thing i can complain is it felt a little rushed but it had some good moments. And the movies message was actually kinda nice in that you can make your own destiny happen
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As a life-long spider-fan I had zero interest in this, Kraven, or the Venom movies. Stop making spider-man movies without spider-man! Unless you're making a citizen kane quality character study of Paste Pot Pete we don't care about random rogues or allies of spider-man plucked from their context.
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I think the superhero genre had its day after Endgame with a handful exceptions and I glad Marvel Studios are taking time out to listen to fans and we only got Deadpool and Wolverine this year I have high hopes for that but like MJ once put expect disappointment and you won't be disappointed.
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Just saw it yesterday without seeing any reviews and the script was as bad as they say. The concept had potential but the script got really cringe and the storyline had several plot holes. You could tell Dakota was really trying to give depth to her performance but it overall just felt meeeh
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Why didn't They cast Someone older like Meryl Streep, or Helen Mirren to play Madame Web Dakota Johnson just don't fit This type of role. When will These Studios learn to pick the right Leads for certain Roles. Look at Rob Downey for instant, He's perfect as Tony Stark in Ironman.
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