Though Sony’s Madame Web wasn’t billed as a comedy, the audible laughs of audience members escaping from theatres should’ve been a telling sign of the superhero film’s demise. To put it bluntly, the Dakota Johnson-helmed action movie was a flop. Madame Web faced both critical and commercial failure at the hands of “distractingly disengaged” acting (as per The Guardian), “unimaginative” directing (as Variety explained) and a script so poorly executed that any apathetic line read became an instant meme. (See: “He was in the Amazon with my Mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.”)
For those who have managed to escape the discourse—if that’s you, please divulge your secrets to staying offline—Johnson portrays Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Webb, a millennial paramedic with clairvoyant powers. A third-act twist sets the film up for more sequels as the almost two-hour runtime effectively serves as an origin story for a comic book character no one seemed to care about or ask for. Both the film and the subsequent press tour were fodder for viral moments picked apart for entertainment by netizens. Now, things have gone from bad to worse for an already flailing franchise that barely saw the light of day.
An inability to substantially recoup its USD$80 million budget and a parade of negative reviews have propelled the film’s leads to detach themselves from the project altogether. Sydney Sweeney, who plays a version of Spider-Woman, joked in her Saturday Night Live debut opening monologue that audiences hadn’t seen her in Madame Web due to the lack of ticket sales, and Johnson herself has just come out to say she’ll “never do something like it again”.
But was the box office bomb a failure to launch? Or did compounding factors such as theories about late-stage script changes and allegations that Johnson thought she was signing up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe result in the film being a tangled web of controversy? Ahead, GRAZIA recapitulates the drama behind the production, unweaving the truth behind what went wrong with Madame Web.
Dakota Johnson Acknowledges Film’s Failure, Responding To The Backlash: “I Can’t Say That I Don’t Understand”
In a profile with Bustle, Johnson candidly admitted that she’s across the adverse response, even going so far as to put on the record that she’ll “never do anything like it again”. “I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has,” the 34-year-old claimed. “It was definitely an experience for me to make that movie,” she added. “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.” The 50 Shades Of Grey breakout star also noted that “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”.
Dakota Johnson Claimed Drastic Changes Were Made To The Script After She Signed On
During a press junket interview, Johnson revealed to a journalist that “drastic changes” were made to the script, but refused to address what those were. She also noted that the many ‘variant’ futures the film explored resulted in her getting lost in the script at points during production. “It added so many different camera set-ups, like triple the amount of work,” she said. “And it was very complex, and there are only minor differences between each version of the same scene, so it was like puzzle pieces, and really paying attention to what moment we’re in, and what angle we’re in, and continuity and things like that.”
Dakota Johnson Fired Her Agent Immediately After Madame Web’s Trailer Dropped
Prior to claiming she’ll never be part of a superhero film again, Johnson parted ways with her agency the day Madame Web’s trailer dropped, leading many to speculate if this decision had anything to do with the outcome of the movie.
Watch the trailer for Madame Web below:
Did Dakota Johnson Think Madame Web Was Part Of The MCU?
Further to this, it’s alleged that Johnson took the role under the guise that she would be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). As any comic book film aficionados would know, Sony has owned the motion picture rights to the Spiderman properties since Marvel sold them in 1999. This has meant that many of the Sony-produced Spiderverse productions have fallen outside the realm of films within Marvel’s canon. (Tom Holland’s Spiderman trilogy is the only exception to this.)
Many fans have theorised that Johnson was potentially duped into signing onto the Sony production by her agents through their failure to explicitly advise the project wouldn’t be affiliated with Marvel. The largest piece of evidence supporting this hypothesis is that Johnson has gone on record stating she sought advice from Elizabeth Olsen before agreeing to the role.
“When I got the Madame Web role, I ran into Lizzie Olsen [Scarlet Witch], and spoke to her about it,” Johnson claimed. “That was helpful. She said she had a great time and seemed very relaxed about it so that was comforting.” This alludes to Johnson operating under the understanding that Madame Web would be within the same cinematic universe as Olsen’s superhero work, hence the rationale for turning to her for advice.
Dakota Johnson on her encounter with Elizabeth Olsen:
“When I got the ‘MADAME WEB’ role, I ran into Lizzie Olsen, and spoke to her about it. That was helpful. She said she had a great time and… seemed very relaxed about it so that was comforting.” pic.twitter.com/B2wZsI6iXF
— Scarlet Witch Updates (@ScarletWitchUpd) February 7, 2024
Johnson hasn’t further addressed any of the speculation about her involvement (or lack thereof) in Madame Web’s shortcomings, but it’s unlikely we’ll hear from her on the topic again soon. As she said in her recent profile: “It’s like, ‘No, I’m not breaking any silence. I’m just talking.’”
