"You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms"- Dakota Johnson deciphers Madame Web failure in recent interview

"Madame Web" Photocall
Dakota Johnson at Madame Web Photocall (Image via Getty)

Madame Web's Dakota Johnson recently shared her thoughts on the movie's box-office performance.

Despite boasting a very exciting cast, consisting of Johnson, Syndey Sweeney, and Emma Roberts, among many others, the film did terribly critically and commercially, cementing the negative reputation of Sony's superhero universe, which has largely been unsuccessful.

Dakota Johnson was at the heart of it all and wasn't even surprised at the gigantic failure, saying in a recent interview with Bustle that she was not "surprised that this has gone down the way it has." In fact, the actress broke down why she thought Madame Web did not work out. She said to Bustle:

"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. Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms."

She further expanded on the mechanical process that led Madame Web down the path that clearly did not work out in the favor of the filmmakers.


"I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again"- Dakota Johnson on the Madame Web experience

Dakota Johnson firmly asserted that the problem with superhero movies like Madame Web is that executives assume that audiences will be fooled, but this is not the case, and it is largely responsible for the superhero fatigue that is taking over the world.

She elaborated in the interview:

"My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f*cking want to see those."

She also went on to assert that though it was an experience for her, and quite a different one, Johnson will not be a part of superhero films again. She added:

"But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now. But sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, Wait, what? But it was a real learning experience."

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Madame Web was made on a budget of $80 million and earned $91 million worldwide. It received negative critical reviews, with some claiming it was the worst superhero comic adaptation ever made. The film currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of only 12%, making it one of the worst-rated films of all time.

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