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How Is Madame Web Popular on Netflix While It Flopped on the Box Office? Explained
Madame Web, released on Abraham Lincoln's birthday, frustrated audiences everywhere. But the movie on its Netflix debut received huge positive response from viewers. Read to know why
When Madame Web, the Spider-Man spin-off debuted in theaters, it received such negative reviews that even led its leading stars Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney to make comment. It was just poor at both critics’ world and box office, despite being promising. only grossed 100 million USD worldwide against a rumored production budget of 80 million USD.
It did manage to earn only an 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 256 reviews from critics. However, it got a second life following its digital debut on Netflix as it topped Netflix in the US chart. A Marvel box office bomb became a clear hit on the streaming giant. Let's decode this success.
Box office flop Madame Web becomes a hit on Netflix
Madame Web frustrated audiences everywhere with its bizarre scripting, its lack of action, its weirdly unmotivated villain. The movie also stars Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, and Emma Roberts, among others along with Johnson. The Valentine Day release did not work for the movie and it became a flop.
But, here comes the digital release of the box office bomb. As it's been recently debuted on Netflix, the movie was revealed to be #2 on the charts for the week of May 13. According to Tudum, Madame Web has accumulated 20.8 million hours viewed, and 10.8 million views. The movie was only beat out by Netflix original film Mother of the Bride, which had 38.1 million hours viewed and 25.4 million views.
A vision for all who wish to see…
— Netflix (@netflix) May 14, 2024
Madame Web is now on Netflix pic.twitter.com/qwHrod6IRS
It was all strategic marketing from Netflix. They even changed the logline of the movie to “A psychic paramedic battles a supervillain connected to her late mom, who was in the Amazon researching spiders right before she died.” How smooth, isn't it?
Another reason could be that this movie perhaps should have been made exclusively for small-screen audiences. And, Sony probably did it wrong. The early reviews of the movie upon its theatrical release also restricted audiences from visiting the theaters. But streamers like Netflix, which is easy access to almost everyone made it possible for the movie to climb to the top spot. After all, it's not that much unwatchable movie!
Dakota Johnson had addressed the poor reception to Madame Web at the box office
The Fifty Shades trilogy fame Dakota Johnson made her MCU debut with Madame Web but it did not go the way she would have expected. While opening up about the commercial and critical failure of the superhero movie Madame Web, saying that she will probably “never do something like it again”.
In an interview with Bustle, on being asked if she was bothered when people write “nasty” reviews. “Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has,” she responded.
She was unhappy with the negative reception of the movie. “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 told Bustle.
When she was asked if she would make another such film she said that probably not. “I had never done anything like it before,” Johnson said. “I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now.
She added that films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them and one cannot make art depending on numbers and algorithms. She also said that studio execs have started to think that audiences are not that smart, but it is actually not like that.
Madame Web is available to stream on Netflix in the US.
ALSO READ: How To Watch Dakota Johnson's Madame Web Online? Streaming Details Explored
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