Marvel's "Madame Web" misses the mark despite star power
"Madame Web" was expected to be Marvel's next big hit. After all, it starred two well-known actors: Dakota Johnson and the currently popular Sydney Sweeney. However, the film was ultimately deemed a failure.
Marvel hasn't had the best streak recently. It's been hard to replicate the immense successes of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Avengers" series. "Deadpool" became a significant savior for the universe, with "Deadpool & Wolverine" earning over $1.3 billion in theaters. Meanwhile, "Madame Web" earned only a fraction of that compared to the movie featuring Reynolds and Jackman. The head of Sony Pictures believes he knows why this happened.
"Madame Web" criticized by the press
Tony Vinciquerra, who will soon step down as CEO of Sony Pictures, has expressed his disappointment with the media. In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times," he shared his dissatisfaction with the criticism "Madame Web" faced. "Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it," Vinciquerra stated.
"It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of Kraven [the Hunter] and Madame Web and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason," he added.
Vinciquerra also noted that the failure of "Kraven the Hunter" was especially painful because it was the last film that premiered in theatres during his leadership. "Unfortunately, [‘Kraven the Hunter’] that we launched last weekend, and my last film launch, is probably the worst launch we had in the 7 1/2 years so that didn’t work out very well, which I still don’t understand, because the film is not a bad film," he added, even though reviewers wrote that if "Kraven" is the future of Marvel, it looks bleak.
The film "Kraven the Hunter" earned only $11 million in the U.S. during its opening weekend. The production, which cost between $110 and $130 million, suffered heavy losses, leading Sony to cancel plans for further spin-offs related to the Spider-Man universe. On the other hand, "Madame Web" earned a little over $100 million in theaters and cost $80 million. While it wasn't a major financial loss, it wasn't a success. In the press and on social media, the film faced criticism for awkward dialogue, a banal script, and poor acting by Dakota Johnson.
But poor reviews don't always translate to financial outcomes. You don't have to look far for examples. The film "Joker: Folie à Deux" was declared a flop and earned over $200 million in theaters. It is among the top productions on the Max platform. Unfortunately, it earned about as much as it cost to produce. However, despite negative reviews, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," with a budget of $100 million, earned over $450 million worldwide and became a hit in streaming.
"Madame Web" is still available on the Max platform.
