Dakota Johnson not surprised ‘Madame Web’ flopped: ‘Never again’

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Dakota Johnson is getting candid about her Madame Web movie flopping at the box office, saying: “It’s not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds.”

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Johnson starred as the titular heroine in the Spider-Man spinoff last month that was meant to introduce a new group of superheroes to Sony and Marvel’s ongoing Spider-Verse slate of movies, which also include Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films, Tom Hardy’s Venom, Jared Leto’s Morbius and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter.

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But the film was mocked by critics (it boasts a 12% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 225 reviews on the site) and fans alike, grossing just $26 million in its opening weekend at North American theatres.

In a new interview, Johnson said she wasn’t surprised that the film was met with such a harsh response.

“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has,” she told Bustle in a new interview.

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“Is there a reason for that?,” the publication asked her.

“It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made — and it’s even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what’s really freaking me out — decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee,” Johnson replied. “Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bulls***. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f***ing want to see those.

But echoing comments she made to Postmedia last month, Johnson said that shooting the big-budget spectacle was “an experience.”

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“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,” she admitted. “And I know that now. But 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.”

Part of Sony’s expanding Marvel universe, Madame Web follows a clairvoyant paramedic (Johnson) who is forced to protect a trio of young women (played by Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor and Isabela Merced) from a mysterious villain (Tahar Rahim) with links to her past.

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There were clear seeds being planted to other Spider-Man films and Peter Parker himself (spoiler alert: his birth happens in the movie).

Perhaps a clairvoyant herself, Johnson predicted some of the headlines that would follow her sitdown with Bustle. “Like, ‘Dakota Johnson Breaks Her Silence On Madame Web’s F***ing Box Office Failure,’” the actress said. “It’s like, ‘No, I’m not breaking any silence. I’m just talking.’”

Over the weekend, Sweeney shared her lighthearted take on Madame Web’s failure when she hosted Saturday Night Live. “You have seen me in Anyone But You and Euphoria. You definitely did not see me in Madame Web,” she joked.

Of course the scrutiny under Johnson — who was tapped as the face of the franchise — didn’t help generate audience interest in the lead up to its release.

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Fans parsed every comment she made as she did press for the film, with many speculating she didn’t have the best time making Madame Web. After one quote she gave to Entertainment Weekly about working in front of a bluescreen, some websites ran articles declaring, “Dakota Johnson Says Filming on Madame Web was Absolutely Psychotic.”

She played into some of that too, admitting to one journalist that she’d only seen “4% of all the Marvel movies.”

But when we spoke to the actress earlier this month, Johnson emphasized its uniqueness in the Marvel Universe and the opportunity of making a different kind of superhero film as the entry’s main appeal for her.

“I was really drawn to the idea of a young woman having a super power that was her mind. To me, that was enticing and something I felt I haven’t seen in the superhero world before,” she said.

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And she was also quick to stress that her film wasn’t tied directly to anything people might have seen before.

“It’s a standalone movie,” Johnson said. “It’s not like we have any secrets related to anyone else in the Marvel Universe because it’s not really related.”

Which in a way is a good thing because you’re unlikely to see any of these characters back on the big screen ever again.

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