Sony Pictures’ recent release Madame Web is directed by S.J. Clarkson from a screenplay she co-wrote with Claire Parker and a writing team of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. The movie stars Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim and more.
The movie is a suspense thriller that follows the story of Madame Web’s origin story in a standalone universe. Madame Web is a part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and opened up to negative reviews from the critics as well as the audience. Dedicated fans of Marvel Comics mentioned how the writers of the movie do not have a single successful movie under their kitty.
Madame Web’s writer Matt Sazama criticized for back-to-back disappointing scripts
Dakota Johnson starring Madame Web was one of the highly awaited movies in 2024, especially with an ensemble cast including Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Adam Scott, Emma Roberts, and more. The movie directed by S.J. Clarkson failed to reach the mark the studios and everyone involved with the movie expected.
Actress Dakota Johnson who plays Cassie Webb in the movie had admitted during an interview with The Wrap that the script underwent ‘drastic changes’ along the way. She mentioned that the changes that were made during the process were ‘more than usual expected’ amount for a movie. Johnson however did not detail the changes the script went through.
After her statement, it was pretty obvious for the fans to dig up the history of the writers who worked on the movie and they did. The duo Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless who joined Claire Parker and S.J. Clarkson for writing the script are known for writing scripts of Dracula Untold, The Last Witch Hunter, Gods of Egypt, Power Rangers and Morbius.
Interestingly, fans noted that none of their written movies have worked at the box office. Their feature debut, 2014’s Dracula Untold starring Luke Evans opened up with mixed reviews from the audience and critics. Vin Diesel starrer 2015’s The Last Witch Hunter grossed over $147 million at the box office but was highly criticized at the time of its release.
Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau starred in 2016’s Gods of Egypt was considered a box office bomb and earned five nominations at the 37th Golden Raspberry Awards. In 2017, the duo worked on Power Rangers along with Michele and Kieran Mulroney. The movie opened up criticism from audience for movie’s uneven tone and divergences from the source material.
Lastly, the duo wrote the script for Jared Leto starrer 2022’s Morbius which was the third movie of SSU and is reportedly considered a critical and commercial failure. It cannot be overlooked how the writers who have consistently delivered disappointing scripts for big-budget movies were given chances again only to fail with Madame Web.
Fans call out Madame Web’s writer Matt Sazama for delivering yet another box office flop
Marvel Comic book fans are hard-core and do not hesitate to call out the people who have tried to mess up their beloved characters. If going by how Dakota Johnson promoted the movie and claimed that the audience would watch it twice, it did raise some level of expectation but it soon turned out to be a disappointment.
Internet users took to their social media to call out the writer Matt Sazama one of the users wrote, ‘If you ever think you don’t have a chance in show business remember this guy continues to work.’ Another user pointed out that there are passionate writers out there struggling to even fund their scripts out here. They added that it’s a fun industry.
If you ever think you don’t have a chance in show business remember this guy continues to work 😆
— MegaDrive (@MegaDriv3) February 18, 2024
and we got passionate writers struggling to even fund their scripts out here. what a fun industry…
— Spasm Productions (@sebi_ibanez) February 18, 2024
Legendary run
— Broletariat007 (@seizethemeansg) February 18, 2024
A third user online straightaway asked about who keeps giving this guy money while another X user used simply two words to describe the situation; ‘legendary run.’ An ardent fan went on to explain how the writer ruined Power Rangers with making that movie so bad that it was eventually dropped from the cinematic universe.
Who keeps giving this guy money
— chvnnel.eth 🤖 (@chvnnelofficial) February 18, 2024
Ruined power rangers, made a movie so bad that it was dropped from the cinematic universe it was supposed to be in, made a BORING movie about EGYPTIAN GODS!, and then made MORBIUS AND MADAME WEB!!! How does this guy keep getting jobs?!
— Filmy Maguire (@FilmyMaguire) February 17, 2024
I feel bad for him and his partner. I got the feeling that they always got the ideas but at the moment of execute them they ended up forgetting what those ideas were or just they are studio writers (people who are hired to deliver "profitable" movies).
— Maximo Salazar#19 (@Maximosalazar02) February 18, 2024
It should be noted that Matt Sazama worked with Burk Sharpless, Claire Parker, and S.J. Clarkson to write the script for Madame Web. Some fans noted the same and pointed out that maybe he and his partner have the ideas but at the moment of execution, either they forget the original idea or they are just studio writers.
Madame Web is playing in theatres.
