The latest box office flop from Sony Pictures – Madame Web has failed miserably. The Valentine’s Day debut of Dakota Johnson’s latest film only managed to pull in an abysmal $6,051,012 at the box office, with a shocking $537 per theater on its second day.
To put this in perspective, Sony’s previous Spider-Man spin-off, Morbius, had a much more successful opening with $11,605,908 at the box office. And even the widely-panned The Marvels, one of the biggest box office bombs from Marvel Studios, managed to rake in $15,003,104 on its premiere night.
But what led to the disappointing performance of Madame Web? Well, for starters, the film’s marketing campaign failed to generate any real excitement. The focus on an obscure and minor comic book character, its complete disconnection from Sony or Marvel’s cinematic universes, and the lack of the beloved Spider-Man himself, left audiences wondering – why does this even exist?
It’s no surprise that the film received largely negative reviews, with critics questioning the purpose and necessity of its existence. And it seems like audiences agreed, with very few showing interest in the film on its opening day.
Stay safe out there everyone.. so i had 2 tickets for the Madame Web movie in my car and someone broke in and left 4 more pic.twitter.com/agTxbbwhJp
— kira 👾 (@kirawontmiss) February 15, 2024
With a reported budget of $80 million – which according to the standard calculation of ‘double the public numbers’, means $160 million in total – Madame Web is now facing a steep uphill battle to even break even, let alone make a profit.
So what is the lesson here? Well, perhaps it’s time for studios to stop trying to build cinematic universes without a solid foundation. Fans want to see their favorite characters and franchises come to life on the big screen, not obscure and disconnected spin-offs.
We live in a time of oversaturation in the superhero genre, with countless films and TV shows being churned out every year. It’s simply not enough to slap a famous actor’s name on the poster and expect audiences to flock to the theaters.
But let’s not completely write off Madame Web just yet – after all, it is still playing in theaters for those who are curious. However, it’s safe to say that this film will go down in history as yet another failed attempt to capitalize on the popularity of superheroes.
