Sydney Sweeney’s latest monologue on Saturday Night Live proves that the stars of Madame Web are embarrassed by the film’s poor critical and commercial reception. However, debutante director S.J. Clarkson’s film has managed to crawl past the $80 million mark, which is reportedly the production budget of the film. By recouping its budget, the female-led film has now shamed another film that came out earlier this year with a star-studded cast — Argylle.
Henry Cavill’s film, produced by Apple, boasted a massive production budget of $200 million. However, its box office collection is struggling to reach even half that number. Madame Web may even cross the collection of Argylle in a few days, thus adding to its humiliation.
Despite Being Considered A Disaster, Madame Web Performs Better Than One Other Film
Dakota Johnson starrer Madame Web was hated by the critics who gave it abysmally low reviews. The film opened with $17.6 million at the domestic box office (via Variety). It is the lowest opening for an SSU movie from Sony. The total domestic collection of the film to date stands at $38 million and its international collection amounted to $42 million (via Box Office Mojo). With these numbers, Madame Web‘s box office just went past its production budget.
While many sources claim that the film’s budget was more than $100 million, Sony reportedly buffered its risk with some smart moves. According to Deadline, the studio managed to keep its production budget limited to $80 million with Massachusetts tax credits and post-production London tax credits, where the VFX of the film were handled. The updated box office status of Madame Web suggests that it might not be the biggest catastrophic failure this year.
Matthew Vaughn‘s Argylle brought back the Barbie duo of John Cena and Dua Lipa alongside top actors like Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, and Bryce Dallas Howard. Despite its star power, the film was criticized for its convoluted plot and its long 139-mins runtime. Many critics believed that Vaughn’s execution failed miserably in this satirical take on the spy thriller genre.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film opened with $17.4 million at the domestic box office and collected $42.9 million in total in that market. The international collection of the film stands at $45.6 million, amassing a total of $88.5 million in a month from theaters. The total gross also includes the film’s $1.4 million opening in China on February 23, 2024.
Argylle‘s numbers never reached anywhere near the film’s massive budget of $200 million (via ScreenRant). In the battle between the worst films of 2024, Madame Web clearly dominates over Argylle.
What Does This Mean For Madame Web‘s and Argylle‘s Future?
While Madame Web‘s numbers indicate that it is the better of the two films, it appears that Argylle has a chance of getting a sequel before Dakota Johnson makes another SSU appearance. Sony may not invest in this female superhero anymore as Spider-Man fans don’t care for the clairvoyant hero. Instead, the smart move for the studio will be to focus on the Spider-Verse animated films, which churn out better money for the studio.
As for the future of Henry Cavill’s Argylle, the movie’s ending sets up a sequel of the film. The disastrous box office may have forced Vaughn to reconsider his plans, however, Apple might wait for the streaming release of the film to make a final decision on the sequel. If the movie attracts viewers on AppleTV+, the studio will move ahead with the sequel. There are also possibilities of a Kingsman connection in the sequel.
Both films are currently running in theaters and haven’t fixed a streaming release date yet.
