Madame Web Failure Kills Franchise Plans, Sony Is In Spider-Trouble
Since the first look trailer for Madame Web dropped online, fans around the world seemed to be laughing at the film for its clunky dialogue, stilted performances, and awkward writing. While it didn’t take a clairvoyant to determine the film would serve as a massive financial flop, Sony seemed to ignore the many early warning signs that the film would underperform, placing a lot of resources into the success of the Dakota Johnson-led movie. Now, the negative early reviews and low box office figures appear to be putting a damper on the entire Sony Spider-Man universe, causing the studio to pivot away from its established plans.
Madame Web Is A Historic Flop
Sony’s Spider-Man Villain-verse has been crashing and burning for some time now, with even the franchise’s highest highs failing to reach Marvel or DC status. According to a write-up in The Hollywood Reporter, theater chain executives have been shocked by the number of refunded tickets they’ve issued for Madame Web, and have projected that the film will perform worse than even Shazam: Fury of the Gods or The Flash. Even Morbius, which flopped at the box office, rereleased to capitalize on internet memes and flopped a second time, managed to bring in over $170 million worldwide, a figure which is far from the grasp of Madame Web if the opening weekend numbers are any indication.
Sony’s Pivot
Now, Sony is looking for a way to pivot out of the Villain-verse entirely, save for the upcoming Kraven The Hunter movie which has already been shot and is expected to release this August. Of course, it’s not too late for the studio to make some major tweaks to that film, but it’s hard to imagine the movie will be enough to save the franchise, even if it’s a cinematic masterpiece. After all, one prevailing critique of Madame Web is that the film is rife with bad ADR, meaning the studio likely tried to rewrite and rerecord a ton of dialogue for the film after the initial production had concluded.
Learning The Wrong Lessons
Too much back-end tweaking on the already shot Kraven The Hunter scenes will surely shine through in the film’s final cut, and ultimately cause critics and audiences alike to smell blood in the water. Unfortunately, it seems that many industry insiders have taken the wrong lessons from Madame Web‘s failure, and caused studios to pivot away from female protagonists in superhero films, instead of pivoting away from bad writing and poor directing choices.
The Fallout Has Even Reached Amazon
For one example of Madame Web‘s growing ripple effect, look no further than Amazon’s upcoming Silk: Spider Society series, which recently fired its entire writing staff in order to restructure the show to appeal to a male audience.
Is Kraven The Last Villain Film?
While Sony’s Villain-verse plans were not entirely clear before the release of Madame Web, it seems obvious now that the studio will refocus its efforts elsewhere, as the shocking failure of the film has all but tarnished the credibility of any future film in the franchise. As stated before, Kraven The Hunter is still on pace to premiere on August 30, though that will likely mark the end of the franchise, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
