Amid the ongoing superhero fatigue, films like Matt Reeves’ The Batman reigned supreme, while Marvel’s Madame Web found itself tangled in a web of unexpected challenges. Starring Dakota Johnson, although the movie was poised to spin box office gold, it unfortunately crashed over a wave of internet mockery and empty theater seats.
Emma Roberts, who played Mary Parker in Madame Web, took to blaming fans for the film’s underwhelming reception. According to Roberts, the internet’s unnecessary mockery of the movie led people to misunderstand it which eventually ruined its potential for success. But unfortunately, Roberts will be disappointed to hear what PlayStation employees have to say about her movie, especially after wasting their free ticket.
Emma Roberts Points Fingers at Meme Mayhem for Madame Web Failure
Despite Marvel’s iconic marketing strategy and hype creation, way ahead of the release of Dakota Johnson‘s Madame Web, netizens had predicted the unfortunate fate of the film at the theaters. Addressing how failure was already looming over the film, fans had called out the Marvel flick prior to its release.
Eventually, fans’ predictions came true and Madame Web tanked at the box office. Made with an estimated $80M production budget, the movie merely managed to score $100M worldwide (via The Numbers). The film’s failure led Dakota Johnson to pledge not to venture into the superhero genre ever again, while Emma Roberts took to blaming the internet.
According to the actress’ interview with Variety, Emma Roberts mentioned that she would gladly appear in future Marvel projects or the superhero genre at large. Stating that the success or failure has nothing to do with her decision, Robert began pointing fingers at the meme culture that ruined the scope of success for Madame Web.
I’m not intimidated by failure, and I’m not intimidated by people having negative thoughts about something. I personally really loved “Madame Web.” I really enjoyed the movie. I thought everyone in it was great. The director, S.J. Clarkson, I think did an amazing job. She’s the reason I wanted to do that movie.
If it wasn’t for internet culture and everything being made into a joke, I think that the reception would’ve been different. And that’s what bums me out about a lot of stuff, even stuff that I’ve done, is people just make such a joke out of everything now.
Claiming that the internet had a field day with memes mocking the movie before it even hit theaters, Emma Roberts claimed that Madame Web was tangled in unnecessary challenges that were created by the internet. Roberts believes that the film was simply misunderstood and was never given an opportunity after social media ruined it.
PlayStation Employees Give Madame Web a Miss Despite Free Tickets
Meanwhile, the drama didn’t stop there. After Emma Roberts’ comments hit the very medium she blamed, PlayStation employees entered the scene. Taking to the comment section on X, @himynameisdagan wrote about him and his colleagues at PlayStation getting free tickets to catch Madame Web in action.
Sounds like a great deal, right? Well, you’d think so. However, the user mentioned that out of a bunch of employees from his department, only one brave soul ventured into the cinema to catch a glimpse of the Marvel flick. And to add insult to injury, the lone ranger apparently returned halfway through the film, because it was that bad.
So it seems, Madame Web, after all, wasn’t tangled in a web of memes that cast a shadow over its potential. The film was indeed a disaster that failed to capture the hearts and minds of even those who got free tickets.
Madame Web is available on Disney+.
