Madame Web – the latest entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe – has garnered a lot of buzz as of late, but not exactly for positive reasons. The Dakota Johnson-led superhero film received brutal reviews from critics, and general audiences haven’t been all that kind as well. On top of all that, the movie has underperformed at the box office. As the public continues to discuss the movie, much of the conversation surrounding still appears to be negative. Now, Johnson herself is discussing her feelings about the film essentially being “ripped to shreds” by viewers.
The witty 34-year-old star has proven to be someone who doesn’t mince words when prompted to give her opinion. That was certainly the case when she was asked about the poor reception of her first foray into the superhero genre. Interestingly enough, she actually conveyed that she’s not actually shocked by how everything has played out thus far:
Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has.
After the first Madame Web trailer dropped, a number of prospective viewers seemed unimpressed by what they saw. So some might also be of the position that the less-than-positive reviews were to be expected. Dakota Johnson’s reasoning for feeling that way is actually a bit more nuanced, though. While chatting with Bustle for a cover story, she further clarified her stance by discussing the creative aspects of the film industry. She specifically spoke about the pitfalls of productions made by committee:
It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made — and it’s even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what’s really freaking me out — decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee. Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullshit. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to fucking want to see those.
She makes some fair points here and is no stranger to working on major movies that received bad reviews. (The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy was panned as well.) When it comes to making blockbuster movies, there are instances in which there can be a lot of cooks in the kitchen, so to speak. With that, the quality of the completed work can ultimately suffer due to a lack of a central vision. It’s honestly unfortunate that this tends to happen from time to time. Nevertheless, the actress seems to have a few keen takeaways from the experience of making the Marvel Comics adaptation:
But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now. But sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, Wait, what? But it was a real learning experience, and of course it’s not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds, but I can’t say that I don’t understand.
In recent weeks, the film has gone viral for some not-so-positive reasons. After the trailer dropped, the Marvel character’s creator expressed his displeasure with the footage. It was around that same time that fans also made jokes about the infamous “he was in the amazon” line uttered by the titular character (which isn’t even in the film). More recently, Sydney Sweeney roasted the flick during her Saturday Night Live hosting monologue. None of this publicity has seemingly translated to cash receipts either. The movie made just $23.4 million in its first five days in theaters, and that’s a sum that doesn’t even top what fellow Sony production Morbius made in 2022.
While discussing the project on a separate occasion, Dakota Johnson revealed she has no plans to watch the film for herself. Though that’s not so much due to its quality as it is due to the fact that she simply doesn’t prefer to watch herself in general. I’m curious as to how this superhero movie and the public’s reaction to it will be analzyed in the years to come. But, at this time, Johnson seems to have accepted the fact that it’s not striking a chord with audiences.
Madame Web – one of the most notable titles on the 2024 movie schedule – is now playing in theaters. You can also read up on other upcoming superhero movies that are set to hit cinemas.
