Dakota Johnson has spoken about the failure of her 2024 Marvel film Madame Web, denying any culpability for the movie bombing.
Set in the Spider-man universe, Johnson starred in the title role of a paramedic who develops mysterious powers of clairvoyance, connecting her to three strangers. The film co-starred Sydney Sweeney, and was a failure both commercially and critically.
At the box office, it made $100Million ($73.8Million), even less than fellow Marvel disaster Morbius, and meaning the film would end up losing money. It was also critically hated, with the film currently standing at a “Rotten” 11 per cent rating from verified film critics on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Speaking to The Los Angeles Times while promoting her new film The Materialists, the actor remarked: “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”.
She continued: “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. But that happens. Bigger-budget movies fail all the time”.
She would also say she hasn’t carried any emotional wounds from the experience. “I don’t have a Band-Aid over it” she remarked. “There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do that again’ to anything. I’ve done even tiny movies that didn’t do well. Who cares?”
Madame Web was part of a Spider-man spin-off universe that included Morbius, Kraven The Hunter, and the Venom trilogy. Of all the entries, only the three Venom films were successful financially or critically. In December, the CEO of Sony blamed critics for Madame Web and Kraven The Hunter’s failings.
English (US) · 