Sony is in dire straits following the release of Madame Web. The company bet big on the star-studded superhero feature starring Dakota Johnson, introducing not only Cassandra Webb but three future Spider-Women in Julia Carpenter (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) for potential sequels and spinoffs. Instead of a franchise, however, they received one of the biggest superhero movie bombs ever released — a $52 million opening weekend at the global box office after releasing on Valentine’s Day with ghastly reviews to boot. Now, industry insiders say it likely killed whatever plans for a series Sony may have had for the clairvoyant superhero, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“We’re not going to see another Madame Web movie for another decade-plus,” one veteran told THR about the film. “It failed. Sony tried to make a movie that was a different type of superhero movie.” Directed by S.J. Clarkson, the film stars Johnson as the paramedic Cassandra who develops superpowers and aims to protect the fledgling Spider-Women from Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), a powerful villain seeking to prevent his death by taking out whom he believes are his would-be killers. At the very least, it sought to stand out by leaning away from convention to create a thriller based on its main character’s unique skills. The ending, then, sets up what could have been future films by bringing Cassandra closer to her comic book counterpart and preparing for her to become a mentor to Julia, Anya, and Mattie.
It’s not hard to see why Madame Web flopped though. The trailer was skewered online upon its release with meme-worthy lines that immediately threw the writing into question. A look around the industry also shows an increasingly beleaguered audience for superhero films. DC has endured constant struggles with the most notable being The Flash, while the MCU has been constantly losing its footing, unleashing its first true modern bomb, The Marvels last year. Madame Web is also releasing in the shadow of another catastrophic Spidey spinoff involving a lesser-known character — Morbius, which ended with a (somehow) healthier gross of under $170 million globally. Coupled with the bad reviews, it created a nightmare scenario before launch that doomed both itself and a bevy of other ideas based on the Spider-Women. One theater chain insider revealed to THR, “On Wednesday night, you could actually watch advance purchase sales declining in real time as buyers were refunding their tickets. It really says something when you’d rather have Shazam! 2 numbers.”
‘Madame Web’ Throws Sony’s Entire Superhero Film Slate Into Question
What Madame Web shows is that Sony is still trying to find what direction to go as superhero fatigue sets in. Their different take on the formula didn’t work, and another veteran studio insider questioned whether the film was the right move with a predominantly male audience for superhero flicks. Now, the company will have to look to the future in hopes that the Aaron Taylor-Johnson-led Kraven the Hunter and Tom Hardy threequel Venom 3 can right the ship financially in August and November respectively. The Madame Web disaster unsurprisingly has Sony in a foul mood considering it limits where they can go next in this universe, but things could be worse — the budget was only in the low $100 million range compared to the astronomical $200 million+ budgets of the MCU and DC, and it sits on the outskirts of the wider SSU.
The same veteran insider noted that there’s still a positive outcome here for Sony if their other releases this year pan out too. Kraven, for what it’s worth, appears to be going in a unique direction as well, opting to create a bloody R-rated tragedy surrounding the popular Spider-Man villain. Venom 3, meanwhile, will be building off of two past box office successes following Eddie Brock, and it’s not hard to imagine a three-peat. Even with intriguing things on the horizon, however, the insider says a few questions will have to be answered to salvage the company’s superhero ambitions:
“We are in transition when it comes to superhero movies. I don’t know how big that transition is or what the other side looks like. It may be fewer movies, but bigger brands. Sony is willing to take some risk but also wants home runs — that’s good. And if [Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man Universe title] Kraven is a gigantic hit, the narrative could be completely different. So it’s too early to know the outcome.”
Madame Web is currently playing in theaters. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the future of Sony’s Spider-Man universe.
via Collider