For some reason, I completely blanked on the fact that Emma Roberts was in Madame Web too. Dakota Johnson was the lead, and the cast also included Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim and Zosia Mamet. Out of the whole cast, Dakota was the one who had to “eat” the box office failure. People really blamed her and I think she sort of blamed herself too, because she thought she was signing on to something completely different. Well, Emma Roberts was recently asked about Madame Web bombing at the box office and her answer is interesting:

Variety: We’ve got to talk about “Madame Web.” It didn’t do as well as obviously people had hoped. Dakota [Johnson] said she probably would never do something like that again. But you have said you want to do it again.

Emma: Things work; things don’t work. Everyone likes to act like they can predict if they’re going to work or they’re not. And the truth is, you can’t. Things do badly, and then they blow up later on TikTok. Things do well, but then you watch them, and you’re like, “This did well?” There is no secret. It’s about doing something goodish and it hitting at the right time. Everything else is like a wish and a prayer. 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.

[From Variety]

The first part of her answer is smart – sometimes it’s the wrong movie, sometimes it’s the wrong moment, you can’t really predict what audiences will respond to, etc. That’s a healthy way of operating within an industry with so much unpredictability. Now, blaming the internet for turning Madame Web into a joke? Eh. This wasn’t the second coming of Morbius, which absolutely became a long-running joke (It’s Morbin’ Time). Madame Web was something with a lot of expectations and they failed to do anything with the hype or genuine fan support for these characters. Plus, it was released during a general “superhero fatigue” moment. You know what else people joked about a lot around the same time? Dune 2, which made over $700 million worldwide. You know why? Because they actually made a good movie (and the jokes were funny).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.