Scorned by critics as an “embarrassing mess” Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off Madame Web has made just $92 million worldwide on a budget of $80 million.
Titular star Dakota Johnson’s press tour moments went viral around the Marvel blockbuster flop’s release, including her inability to name a single Tom Holland Spider-Man movie.
Now a new inside report claims the 34-year-old is “in hot water with Sony and the team behind Madame Web after infuriating bosses by making multiple public digs at the Marvel movie amid its poor box office performance.”
The actress, who still hasn’t seen the movie, is reportedly accused of “dragging” it and failing to “take any responsibility”.
In a new interview, she appeared to take a shot at movie bosses.
Speaking with Bustle, Dakota said: “Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has. But it was definitely an experience for me to make that 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. 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?”
“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.
“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**t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f***ing want to see those.”
An industry insider told Daily Mail: “Lots of people at Sony are questioning her star power, and how she reacted to this failure will likely come back to haunt her… 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..”
Madame Web is out now in cinemas.
