Sony Pictures' Marvel Misfire: 'Madame Web' falters at box office
"Madame Web" was supposed to be Marvel’s next hit. After all, it starred two big names: Dakota Johnson and the recently popular Sydney Sweeney. However, the film was deemed a failure.
Marvel hasn't had the best streak lately. It has been difficult to replicate the successes of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Avengers" series. Deadpool became a significant saviour for the universe. The film "Deadpool & Wolverine" earned over $1.3 billion (!) in theatres. Meanwhile, "Madame Web" earned mere pennies compared to the production with Reynolds and Jackman. The head of Sony Pictures knows why this happened.
"Madame Web" destroyed by the press
Tony Vinciquerra, who will soon step down as CEO of Sony Pictures, does not hide his disappointment with the media. In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times," he expressed dissatisfaction with the criticism that the film "Madame Web" faced. "Madame Web underperformed in the theatres because the press just crucified it," stated Vinciquerra.
"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 particularly painful because it was the last film that debuted in theatres under his "rule." "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 $15 million CAD in Canada during its opening weekend. The production, which cost approximately $150-180 million CAD, suffered heavy losses, prompting Sony to cancel plans for further spin-offs related to the Spider-Man universe. "Madame Web," on the other hand, earned a little over $135 million CAD in theatres and cost $110 million CAD. It's hard to talk about a big financial loss, but it wasn't a success. In the press and on social media, the film was criticized for awkward dialogues, a banal script, and poor acting by Dakota Johnson.
But poor reviews don't always translate into financial outcomes. You don't have to look far for examples. The film "Joker: Folie à Deux" was declared a flop and earned over CAD 270 million in theatres. It is among the top productions on the Max platform. Unfortunately, the fact is that films cost as much as they managed to earn in theatres. However, the negatively reviewed "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" had a budget of CAD 135 million, earned over CAD 600 million worldwide, and became a hit in streaming.
"Madame Web" can still be caught up. The film is available on the Max platform.
