Fans aren’t the only ones unhappy with how Madame Web turned out! Sony is reportedly unhappy with how Dakota Johnson has been promoting the recent Spider-Man spin-off.
Madame Web will go down in history as one of the biggest superhero flops of all time. Not only did the film struggle at the box office so badly that it made history as the worst opening for a Spider-Man-related project, but the spin-off was almost universally mocked for its poor quality, even by its star Dakota Johnson.
However, for as much fun as it’s been dunking on Madame Web the past few weeks, Sony Pictures hasn’t been laughing. The studio has reportedly begun to question Dakota Johnson’s ability to hold franchises as big as Spider-Man, with insiders suggesting that her behavior on the press circuit for the spin-off may come back to haunt her in her future career.
Sony doesn’t think the Madame Web memes are fun
“Lots of people at Sony are questioning her star power, and how she reacted to this failure will likely come back to haunt her,” An insider tells DailyMail. “It is OK to joke about your movie not doing well and even lean into the bad reviews like Sydney Sweeney did on SNL with her monologue – but producers and Sony aren’t laughing over Dakota’s continued dragging of how she sees the fallout of Madame Web and how she isn’t taking any responsibility for its lackluster results.”
“Not every movie is going to work, but a lot of hard work is put towards even bad movies and for your star to s**t on it is a bad look.” They continued “Dakota is being looked down on over her talk of the film because everyone in the production is thinking, what if the movie was still the same but also a box office gem? She would be talking about sequels and probably praising herself over its good fortune.”
It’s certainly true that Dakota Johnson has gone above and beyond in trashing Madame Web, sometimes even before the film’s release, even going as far as to say she’ll never do a project like it again. This contrasts to co-stars like Sydney Sweeney who have been overall very positive of the movie prior to its release, but threw in small jabs during her SNL appearance.
However, Dakota Johnson can’t be entirely to blame for the failure of Madame Web. Just as the source aid, any movie is a team effort. It’s clear just from watching the movie that a committee butchered the project, and it certainly didn’t help that Sony Pictures brought back the writers of Morbius to helm the project.
Luckily, it seems as though Sony Pictures is learning from the failure of Madame Web. The studio is seemingly reevaluating its plans for its Spider-Man spin-offs following the film’s lackluster box office, potentially pivoting to an animated universe with a Sinister Six film.
