Dakota Johnson starred in Madame Web, which was a box office flop amid the discussion of superhero movie fatigue.
In a new interview, the Materialists star says the film’s failure was due to some “people who don’t have a creative bone in their body.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Johnson told The Los Angeles Times. “There’s this thing that happens now where a lot of creative decisions are made by committee. Or made by people who don’t have a creative bone in their body. And it’s really hard to make art that way. Or to make something entertaining that way.”
She continued, “And I think unfortunately with Madame Web, it started out as something and turned into something else. And I was just sort of along for the ride at that point. But that happens. Bigger-budget movies fail all the time.”
Johnson noted that she doesn’t “have a Band-Aid over it,” and adds, “There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do that again’ to anything. I’ve done even tiny movies that didn’t do well. Who cares?”
Madame Web stars Dakota Johnson as a paramedic who develops psychic abilities following an accident, making her see future events in the “Spider-Man world.” The film opened to $51.5M worldwide, way below the reported $80M budget, and also starred Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott.
Following the results of Madame Web, Johnson hinted that the experience put her off and she didn’t have the desire to star in another superhero movie.
“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. And I know that now,” Johnson said in an interview with Bustle.
She continued, “Sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’ But it was a real learning experience, and of course 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.”
In an interview at the end of 2024, Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra acknowledged the film’s underperformance at the box office and explained why he thinks it didn’t do well.
“Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix,” Vinciquerra told the Los Angeles Times.
Vinciquerra acknowledged that Kraven the Hunter underperformed like Madame Web and suggested, “for some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films … and the critics just destroyed them.”
“They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit,” he added. “These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”
