Dakota Johnson’s starring role in Sony’s Madame Web has resulted in a major critical and commercial failure, potentially disrupting Sony’s plans for a Spider-Man universe spin-off series. The movie, which was meant to kick off a new line of superhero films, instead became the latest in a series of poorly performing superhero releases, leaving Sony executives reportedly discouraged.

As found by The Guardian,  in an interview with Bustle, Johnson herself said she is not surprised by the film’s negative reception and suggested she is unlikely to take on a similar project in the future. Madame Web, a superhero movie intended to expand the Spider-Man universe, earned a harsh 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a clear sign of its overwhelmingly bad reviews.

Critics heavily criticized the film, with some calling it one of the worst comic book adaptations ever made. This harsh judgment matches its disappointing box office results. Despite an estimated production budget of $80 million, Madame Web only made $91 million worldwide, a major loss for the studio and a clear sign that audiences were not interested.

Even Dakota Johnson can see the issues with Madame Web

This weak performance has reportedly left Sony executives feeling doubtful about the future of their planned spin-off series. The studio had high expectations for Madame Web as a key project, but its failure has damaged their broader goals for the Spider-Man universe. The poor reception has raised serious doubts about whether future spin-off projects can succeed, leaving the studio’s immediate expansion plans unclear.

Johnson said, “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, and of course it’s not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds, but I can’t say that I don’t understand.”

Johnson’s comments reflect the widespread disappointment surrounding the film. She acknowledged the negative reaction and said she understood the criticism, implying that the final version of the movie was very different from what she initially thought it would be. This raises concerns about how the film was made and the possible gap between the original vision and the end result.

She made it clear that she “probably will never do anything like it again,” but its hard to fault her when even Russell Crowe took shots at her. This reaction makes sense given the film’s poor performance and extremely negative reviews, and it highlights the risks and unpredictability of big-budget superhero movies.

The failure of Madame Web is also part of a larger trend affecting the superhero genre. Recent movies like Shazam 2, The Marvels, and The Flash have also faced bad reviews and weak box office numbers. However, there was a lot of controversy surrounding them. There’s even doubt that Tom Holland could return, so it’s not looking good for Sony.

Madame Web may have been loathed (and heavily memed) by both audiences and critics alike, but it at least got some recognition at the Golden Raspberry Awards.

Granted, that’s probably not what the Madame Web team was hoping for, but going home with a trophy — even one that acknowledges poor quality — is better than going home empty-handed, right? The Spider-Man spin-off was given the highest award at the ceremony, which took place in Los Angeles over the weekend and recognized the worst and dimmest in film over the past 12 months. 

That top prize is aptly-dubbed Worst Picture, and it went to Madame Web over nominees like fellow comic book adaptation Joker: Folie à Deux, the Francis Ford Coppola-directed Megalopolis and the presidential biopic Reagan. The wins (or losses, depending on if you’re a glass half-full kind of person) didn’t stop there, with Madame Web also collecting a trophy for Worst Actress for Dakota Johnson’s titular role as Cassandra Webb. 

Johnson had some pretty stiff competition, duking it out for the high/low honor alongside Cate Blanchett (for Borderlands), Lady Gaga (for Joker: Folie à Deux), Bryce Dallas Howard (for Argylle), and Jennifer Lopez (for Atlas). In its final “win” of the ceremony, Madame Web also scored the Worst Screenplay award, beating out the likes of Joker: Folie à Deux, Kraven the Hunter, Megalopolis, and Reagan. 

‘Madame Web’ won 3 RAZZIE Awards including Worst Picture of 2024. pic.twitter.com/vGIpMTiQqp

— The DisInsider (@TheDisInsider) February 28, 2025

With all those trophies in the bag, Madame Web came home from the Razzies with the most wins of the night, but it was Joker: Folie à Deux that was the most nominated. For those who had been following the Madame Web discourse, this Razzies success is perhaps unsurprising, given that the film somehow fared worse than fellow Sony Spider-Man entry, Morbius. From the script to the performances, the terribleness of Madame Web was, for a long while, the only thing that cinephiles could agree on, much like Hillbilly Elegy in 2020 and Blonde in 2023. 

While no one from team Madame Web has responded to the Razzies wins (they’re probably still licking their wounds), Coppola seemed to take pride in his Megalopolis recognition with a ionate social media post. “I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award in so many important categories,” the director wrote on Instagram, “when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking.” 

While it might seem like a pessimistic event, the Razzies did take time to recognize actual talent. For her part, Pamela Anderson’s role in The Last Showgirl received the Razzie Redeemer Award, which is given to a past Razzie nominee who has compensated with a terrific performance turnaround. She’s probably much more chuffed with the win than Johnson, but for all its awfulness, Madame Web will at least live on in the hall of Hollywood dumpster fire infamy.  

#MadameWeb
"He was in the amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died"

Today is the anniversary of when Madame Web was released to the world. It's a so bad it's good film to me! pic.twitter.com/gbn0u7IRUa

— CSS-Tails_Forever (@CSS_Tails) March 14, 2024

After all, without Madame Web, we wouldn’t have gotten what might be the stiffest line delivery in cinematic history, a line I still repeat despite it having absolutely zero use in everyday life: “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.” The Razzie Award for worst line of dialogue goes to…

Leading Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani is back on Letterboxd after an extended hiatus and she’s marked her return with a ton of reviews for movies that were released over the past year. Among these, one of the most notable was for Madame Web.

Madame Web was released on Feb. 14, 2024, and has since become notorious as one of — if not the — worst superhero movies that has been released by a major studio. In fact, right now it sits at a terrible 11 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes with a slightly better 55 percent audience rating.

Given this context, you can probably guess what Vellani might have thought about the film, so we won’t bury the lead any further. Ms. Marvel did not like this Sony Spider-verse flick, and her final rating for the film was an abysmal 0.5 stars out of 5.

What’s confusing about this film review is the fact that Vellani didn’t even bother to leave a message alongside her review, just the ultimate score, but she did leave the movie a heart which typically suggests you’ve liked it. Perhaps this movie is one of those “so bad that it’s good” type of watches for Vellani?

As we mentioned before, seeing a negative review for Madame Web shouldn’t be all that surprising, but there were plenty of other movies with new reviews lodged by the star to check out in the last week. It shouldn’t be any surprise that her review of The Marvels was positive, and while she didn’t give it a score, this time she did leave a message.

“Actual footage of the girlies and I having fun.”

Despite being a key part of the largest comic book movie franchise on earth, Vellani has consistently been critical of projects over the years. In fact, Madame Web isn’t the only superhero film she has given 0.5 stars. Others include The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Justice League. For full clarity, this was the 2017 version of Justice League, not the Snyder cut, so all of you Zach Snyder fans can relax.

Now, if you started thinking that maybe she’s only interested in Disney’s superhero offerings then you’d be wrong. Other recently lodged reviews included The Penguin, which rightfully got the perfect five-star score that it deserves.

Right now, the list of her perfect superhero projects that all received five stars include Avengers, Avengers: Endgame, The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Black Widow, Captain America: Civil War, The Dark Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Iron Man, Logan, The Penguin, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Yes, there are a lot.

Hopefully, Vellani will continue to keep her Letterboxd updated in the future, as it’s interesting to see insight into what a star of her stature thinks about other movies entering and leaving theaters. If you’re eager to dive deeper into Vellani’s mind and see what her favorite movies actually are, then you can check out her Letterboxd page here.

Sony’s Spider-Man universe is a cinematic laughing stock. Just when it seemed Kraven the Hunter was going to change all that, audience and critics’ reviews (somewhat inevitably) proved otherwise. So not even Aaron Taylor-Johnson could save the SSU.

Over the years, Sony’s extended universe of Spider-Man villain movies has been underperforming. The studio has made valiant attempts to capture the glory of the MCU before it, but it looks like Sony might be ready to throw in the towel, because even the CEO’s flabbergasted.

Kraven the Hunter’s box office flop

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven, the movie set out to explore the his complex relationship with his father. However, despite the considerable star power Taylor-Johnson brought to the role, it was met with negative reviews and little audience interest.

Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO, Tony Vinciquerra spoke to the Los Angeles Times about his tenure as CEO, and his thoughts on the failed Sony Spider-Man universe, or SSU. Vinciquerra will be stepping down after seven years of service, and Sony COO Ravi Ahuja will take on the role. When asked about his thoughts on the performance of Sony’s recent movies, including Kraven and Madame Web, which were released earlier this year, Vinciquerra was pretty much lost for words. He said he doesn’t understand why Kraven didn’t do well, because “the film is not a bad film.” 

For Madame Web, he turned the blame to the press, saying, “Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix.” However, his thoughts on the movie are a huge contradiction to what audiences were saying about it. Madame Web, and Dakota Johnson’s portrayal of the titular character, were widely regarded as simply bad. 

Kraven on the other hand, had the dishonor of setting the record for the worst opening weekend of any movie in the SSU, earning only $26 million on a budget of $110-150 million. 

The SSU is on its last legs

Following Tobey Maguire’s iconic run as Spider-Man, and Andrew Garfield’s popular but critically panned time in the suit, Sony and Marvel Studios came to a deal for Spidey in the MCU. Tom Holland’s wild success in the role led Sony to try to ride on the MCU’s coattails and release a litany of movies centered around Spidey-related villains. 

The SSU began with Venom and its sequel Let There Be Carnage and includes six movies in total. The Venom movies are often regarded as the only decent movies in the Sony Spider-Man Universe, while Morbius marked the beginning of their laughing stock era. Venom’s trilogy ended with Venom: The Last Dance, and while all three of his movies performed moderately well, the same can’t be said for the rest of the SSU.

As of now, Kraven the Hunter is the final film in the SSU, and while many are happy to see it go, there will always be a lingering “what if” around these characters and what could have happened if they’d had better adaptations. 

Before you roll your eyes too hard… yes, bad movies come out every year and yes, they are the reason one appreciates the good ones. But if you are one of those unlucky souls who spent 2024 wondering “Someone is definitely pin-punching a voodoo doll of me” then you know how you couldn’t rely on films this year to find your escape…

… because everywhere you turned, there was a bad film.

Harebrained plots cocooning brainless dialogues spoken by mouths with a forever buffering brain, painfully disastrous jokes, tone-deaf depictions, and horrendously awful CGI — all this came from some of the most brilliant minds in Hollywood and was lived on the silver screen by faces who no longer deserve our unwavering trust in their art. But the pen is mightier than the cinematic diarrhea that clogs the innocent crevices of our scarred minds, and we are here to call out the culprits.

Madame Web

It takes a real miracle to make something as majestically inept as Madame Web. Delivering a film that’s so poorly executed at every stage — from its very concept to its meme-spewing marketing — requires so much work that the only logical conclusion you can draw is that its sheer demented awfulness was deliberate. Was Sony trying to pull a Producers with this one? At the very least, Dakota Johnson appears to be trying to destroy the movie from the inside with a performance so dead-eyed and lifeless she deserves to win the Oscar for Best Leading Actress Impersonating AI. With Madame Web, we finally have a superhero film so bad that it feels like an ingenious subversion of the form. ⏤ Christian Bone

Unfrosted

Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut about the creator of the Pop-Tarts, Unfrosted, might sound like a completely made-up movie but, unfortunately, it is very much real. It came out on Netflix in May, and I was tasked with reviewing it for the site. Starring Seinfeld himself as a Kellogg’s creative based on cereal magnate William Post, Melissa McCarthy as his NASA food scientist sidekick, and Amy Schumer as his rival (among many others), Unfrosted is a hot mess of bad jokes and silly plots. Like the pastry at its center, it’s jam-packed with celebrity cameos and outrageous acting, but does little in the way of sustenance. ⏤ Francisca Tinoco

Mean Girls

Having grown up in the generation that still regularly uses phrases like “she doesn’t even go here!” and “scum-sucking road whore,” I was beyond excited to see the big-screen Mean Girls: The Musical, emphatically renamed Mean Girls when Paramount Pictures decided to mask the remake’s musical nature from the general public. Having enjoyed the Broadway rendition, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into with the 2024 adaptation. Alas, Paramount’s update was a swing, miss, and death by proverbial school bus. 

Despite Renée Rapp and Auliʻi Cravalho’s best attempts to steer the vocal ship, Mean Girls felt like an extended music video that failed to cleverly mix the flavor of the original with the musical’s more updated ambitions. The result was a Kälteen Bar that promised to shave off three pounds but actually stole two hours from our collective lives instead. Not only will I probably never watch it again, but like the limit, I may have to pretend it does not exist so I can enjoy the original and its musical counterpart in peace. ⏤ Josh Conrad

Deadpool & Wolverine

Put down the pitchforks, please. Yes, Deadpool & Wolverine got the MCU out of its slump, yes it was funny, yes it was great to hear Chris Evans cuss in a Marvel film, and yes Wolverine is back, but… no one can convince me that the highly awaited third film in the Deadpool series was anything more than a filler. And that too which just blatantly cooked up its own logic and defied the laws of the MCU.

Wade’s knowledge of the Marvel superheroes felt forced, the ending made no sense, and everything that made Deadpool exceptional was pushed aside — except his foul-mouthed humor — to make space for countless cameos, fight scenes, and an empty plot that leads nowhere and holds zero importance in the Marvel universe. I am sorry, but while my brain short-circuited when Hugh Jackman’s suit melted away, I need more storywise to call a film good. — Apeksha Bagchi

Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola apparently spent hours in his trailer, smoking marijuana, while filming Megalopolis. If you go into the film knowing this, it kind of makes a bit more sense – like yeah, this is definitely something a guy would make while out of his head on illicit substances. It’s been called “pretentious nonsense” by some, and while I do agree, I think it still holds some entertainment value. The trippy visuals and downright insane dialogue certainly had me laughing out loud, whether that was intentional we’ll never know, as Megalopolis is simply a small glimpse into the riches of Coppola’s Emersonian mind. — Jordan Collins

The Apprentice

If you dared to watch The Apprentice in theaters, congrats on the extra legroom! Who thought watching Donald Trump on screen would be a good idea? Clearly, someone missed the memo that we’re all Trumped out.

With probably only three souls in the audience, it’s the perfect spot for an introvert’s paradise or a sad popcorn party. This film ties itself so desperately to the 2024 election it almost screams for relevance but ends up feeling like a two-hour-long political ad that nobody asked for. Ali Abbasi tries to serve us a deep dive into Trump’s rise with Sebastian Stan’s portrayal, along with Jeremy Strong’s Roy Cohn teaching him the sinister “Rules of Winning.” Despite its attempt to critique, the film can’t help but seem almost sympathetic to these infamous figures. Either way, it’s a cinematic facepalm, and Trump hating it might just be the only thing he and we agree on. Oh, and thanks to this film, we can never look at Sebastian Stan the same way again. — Omar Faruque

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, like its empty predecessor and dreary director’s cut, is not one of those cases of so-bad-it’s-good, nor is it one of those cases where it’s simply bad. No, The Scargiver’s badness is that elusive type of bad that you will inadvertently wind up being thankful for a decade from now, and you may not even realize it. Why? Because The Scargiver is the rawest, loudest, most undiluted proof in this perverted pudding that the entertainment industry is not a meritocracy; a revelation that may just be the spark of confidence that an otherwise imposter syndrome-ridden luminary needs to send out that screenplay they’ve been perfecting for years. 

So — on behalf of every gifted storyteller who just needed a tiny voice to tell them that they were good enough — thank you, Zack Snyder, for reminding us that you can get paid for this job even if you have the artistic sensibilities of a terminally-online rhinoceros. ⏤ Charlotte Simmons

Uglies

Netflix’s Uglies imagines a world where everyone undergoes mandatory plastic surgery to achieve perfection — but no amount of medical intervention can fix the ugliness of this dystopian disaster. Despite Joey King’s valiant efforts to inject some life into her lead role, this misfire speeds through its 90-minute runtime like a runaway hoverboard, leaving character development and coherent worldbuilding in the dust. With three writers inefficiently cramming exposition down our throats, Laverne Cox trapped in cartoon villain mode, and set pieces desperately needing some makeup, there’s nothing worth saving in Netflix’s shallow, bland, and tasteless take on young adult dystopia. — Marco Vito Oddo

Argylle

For Matthew Vaughn, more is always more, and his latest attempt to launch a franchise, Argylle, is yet another convoluted spy thriller, this time about a novelist who writes spy thrillers. The plot betrays Vaughn’s attempt to over-correct criticisms of his recent films, which often feature unrefined plots seemingly designed to primarily kickstart a franchise. Rather than creating a movie with a defined beginning, middle, and end — avoiding his usual puzzling cliffhanger endings — Vaughn overloads this typical amnesiac-spy thriller with plot twists to create the illusion of depth. 

But instead of heightening intrigue, these twists become increasingly predictable, culminating in a tepid ending that inspired nothing but indifference from me. Vaughn continues to overcomplicate things when he should be simplifying. This is why he keeps releasing misfires, and Argylle stands as one of the year’s most wasted opportunities. It only left me with a lingering sense of what could have been. I just hope Matthew Vaughn can return to one-offs like he did with Layer Cake. — Fred Onyango

Joker: Folie à Deux

After the success of its brilliant 2019 predecessor, I expected more from Joker: Folie à Deux. Making it part jukebox musical and part courtroom drama always felt risky, and, sure enough, it didn’t work. As expected, Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga bring bags of talent and energy as the eponymous Arthur Fleck and Harleen Quinzel — and their chemistry isn’t terrible — but the story’s as dank as the fictional city it’s set in. I’ve run marathons, and this was more of an endurance test than any of them. It’s a tiresome slog that sometimes feels like it’s intentionally trying to irk its audience. — Kevin Stewart

Kraven The Hunter

Kraven the Hunter had no business prowling into theaters as a full-fledged feature, because, let’s face it, no one was clamoring for this origin story. But Sony, ever the bold predator of Marvel’s rogues’ gallery, took the bait—and now Marvel can never undo the damage, even if the rights are reclaimed.

Despite having all the necessary ingredients—a strong tone, gripping source material, and a gifted cast—the movie feels like a hunter’s feast that is served cold and bland right off the factory line. At its core, Kraven himself is treated more like a glorified plot gadget than the protagonist of his own tale, slicing his way through a script that prevents him from developing into the complex antihero he could be. — Kopal Kumari

Madame Web has gone down as one of the worst Marvel movies of all time. It’s the subject of widespread mockery, a financial disaster, and an embarrassment for Sony Pictures. That said, there’s one actor who’s now laughing all the way to the bank.

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe continues to struggle and disappoint comic book movie fans around the globe. Almost every film without Spidey becomes the laughingstock of its release date and the reviews aren’t getting any kinder. Lest we forget, Morbius morbed so that Madame Web could web, and how many people are genuinely cravin’ Kraven the Hunter right now?

One of the actors wasted in Madame Web is Sydney Sweeney. As a rising star in Hollywood, she plays a nothing part as Julia Cornwall here. Sure, fans see her in the Spider-Woman outfit – albeit briefly – but many viewers might have expected her to have a meatier or more substantial role in the SSU considering her burgeoning status in the entertainment industry. Since then, there’s been a fan-led drive to see her cast as Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat, and for Agatha Harkness to use a spell to make everyone forget Sweeney played Julia in the first place.

For Sweeney, she has remained diplomatic about Madame Web, expressing to GQ how she had no control over the movie and played a character that made her cousins happy. Wildly, she even said she would be open to reprising the role of Julia again.

In the same interview, though, she revealed an important detail that explains why she said yes to such a strange superhero film in the first place. Sweeney said: 

“To me that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there. Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.”

So, how smart was Sweeney here? According to The Hollywood Reporter, she played chess while everyone played checkers. She agreed to play Julia in Madame Web for $750,000 as a show of good faith to the studio. In turn, Sony paid her $2 million for Anyone But You. Part of the deal for the rom-com – in which she starred alongside Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell – included an extra $250,000 producing fee and backend profits. Considering that the movie made over $220 million on a paltry $25 million budget, Sweeney’s bank gained a few extra zeroes when all was said and done.

Sweeney’s gravy train didn’t stop there as she dodged the fallout of Madame Web, with most of the backlash falling on the film’s lead, Dakota Johnson. Instead, studios saw the success of Anyone But You as a way of establishing Sweeney as a genuine box office draw and convincing Hollywood she’s the real deal. As such, she received $7.5 million for starring in Lionsgate’s The Housemaid.

This latest payday confirms Sweeney’s status as one of the highest-paid actors of her generation. She’s coining it at the moment and every studio needs to cough up serious money if they want her in their projects. More impressively, turned a bona fide mess like Madame Web into pure gold in the end. Maybe Jared Leto could learn a thing or two from Sweeney here.

Ever since her breakthrough roles in Euphoria and the first season of The White Lotus, Sidney Sweeney has been working nonstop, and while some of her choices have paid off in spades, there is one stain on her record that has puzzled fans for over two years. A new report from Hollywood insiders is finally providing some clarity.

Madame Web is easily one of the worst movies in recent memory, so it begs the question of why a budding A-list actor like Sweeney would accept to such a disted project when the offers were most likely raining down from all kinds of other sources. Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the 27-year-old wanted to scratch Sony’s proverbial back, so the studio would scratch hers.

Soon after the actress got the Sony Spider-Man Universe gig, it was announced she would star in a rom-com opposite fellow rising star Glen Powell, also for Sony Pictures. “Sweeney agreed to first shoot a ing role in Madame Web, part of Sony’s Spider-Man-centric universe of films, as a way to help Anyone But You get the green light,” one source told THR.

Anyone But You, which wound up being one of 2023’s biggest box office success stories, was a ion project for Sweeney who not only starred in the film but also executive-produced it. Her faith in the film proved to be entirely justified, as it went on to make $220 million at the worldwide box office, from a budget of just $25 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing rom-com of all time, just behind 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Madame Web, on the other hand, barely scraped by, making a worldwide total of $100.5 million from an $80 million budget (not including money spent on marketing).

THR reports that Sweeney scored big with Anyone But You. Not only was she paid $2 million for starring and $250,000 for executive-producing, but also received “massive backend profits (…) said to be in the millions.” And even if Madame Web ended up becoming one of the biggest memes of 2024, the overall strategy was still beneficial for Sweeney, who added her $750,000 salary for that movie to her list of earnings.

But that was not the full extent of Anyone But You‘s rewards. The success of that film, paired with Sweeney’s many other shrewd career decisions with projects like Immaculate and Reality, means she is now one of the best-paid actresses of her generation after receiving $7.5 million to star in her next film, Lionsgate’s adaptation of The Housemaid, a thriller by Freida McFadden that made it on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists. For reference, Zendaya reportedly earned $10 million to star in and produce Challengers, while Timothée Chalamet was paid $9 million for Wonka.

Sweeney will play housemaid Millie Calloway who gets way too involved with the family of her boss, Nina Winchester, who will be played by Amanda Seyfried. Paul Feig (A Simple Favor, Bridesmaids) will direct from a screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine, per Deadline.

Other projects in the pipeline for the young star include a biopic about professional boxer Christy Martin, where Sweeney will look unrecognizable, and Euphoria co-star Colman Domingo’s directorial debut, a Hollywood period drama about Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr.’s relationship titled Scandalous. It’s crazy to think that, all of this, is, in a way, the outcome of Sweeney taking one for the team by ing the cast of a truly terrible Marvel B-film.

Sony execs should probably hang up their web-slingers, as the abysmal Rotten Tomatoes scores of their entries into the Spider-Man universe (which has no Spider-Man in it) have proven so ruthlessly 

A new post by the X Culture Crave has compiled the scores received by five of Sony’s dalliances with the Spider-verse, all of which failed to reach the review aggregator’s favorable 60% score and were branded with the much-feared “Rotten” status. 

It comes fresh off the release of Venom: The Last Dance, which marks Sony’s most recent foray into the Spider-Man universe. From least to most well-received (spoiler alert, even the highest-scoring movie didn’t do that well), the list begins with the Dakota Johnson-starring vehicle Madame Web, which was released earlier this year and received an 11% score among critics. 

This won’t come as a surprise for fans, since it was the poor quality of the film — which follows Johnson as a peripheral friend of Peter Parker’s parents — became the subject of countless memes and an equally chaotic (yet undeniably entertaining) press tour. 

The film was so bad, in fact, that some fans believed Madame Web did a U-turn and became something of an iconic, campy delight — in a ‘so bad it’s actually good’ kind of way — but Rotten Tomatoes didn’t agree. 

The consensus among critics for Madame Web was rather scathing, describing the movie as “a forgettable superhero adventure” with a “predictable plot and uneven execution.” For those who aren’t fluent, that’s critic-speak for “pure trash.” Placed just a few percentage points above Madame Web on the Rotten Tomatoes scale is a movie whose mere title will send a shiver down your spine, Morbius. 

Earning just 15% on the critics Tomatometer — which brands Morbius “uninspired” and “nonsensical” —  the origin story of one of Spider-Man’s comic book villains was loathed even by some of its stars, so perhaps this score was to be expected. Especially considering it was the screenwriter sibling of Madame Web, as both films were penned by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (who should be stopped at all costs). 

The remaining Sony Spider-Man films in Rotten Tomatoes’ bad books are all part of the same franchise, with Venom, Venom: The Last Dance, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage receiving 30%, 39%, and 57%, respectively. It’s here that the gap between audience and critic scores is most apparent since the first two installments of the Tom Hardy-starring franchise both received 80% or more among fans, who almost universally enjoy the odd couple, symbiote-loving movies.

Critics said Venom was “chaotic [and] noisy,” and that its successor was only for “fans of the original’s odd couple chemistry.” Since it has only just arrived, we’re yet to hear the consensus for The Last Dance (and even its 39% score is subject to change), but perhaps the final Venom movie will be the beacon of hope Sony needs to redefine its vision for future Spider-Man entries. 

If not, maybe they should scrap the whole endeavor entirely and just let Tom Holland do his thing, and spare themselves the destiny of ending up like 0% Rotten Tomatoes-getters like SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 and Gotti.  

After the last couple of years the Sony Spider-Man Universe has had I think it’s fair to say nobody is expecting much from the Kraven the Hunter movie but perhaps we’re being too harsh on the film – is it possible that it just might be good?

Everything we’ve seen thus far has failed to impress, but the film’s opening scene was recently showcased to attendees at the New York Comic-Con and reactions have been surprising to say the least. Fans were treated to a whole eight minutes of gory, violent footage, (the film is R-rated in case you were unaware) and it seems like most who were there to witness it seemed to really like what they saw. The general opinion shared by those in attendance is that this film might not be a rancid pile of nonsense like Madame Web, or Morbius, or Let There Be Carnage, (honestly pretty much every SSU film is trash).

It's completely understandable if you disagree but I genuinely believe that KRAVEN THE HUNTER will deliver not only a fun time but a solid movie. pic.twitter.com/ZLEZLMHA00

— TomMCJL (@TomMCJL) October 19, 2024

It’s drawn comparisons to John Wick which is high praise, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Others were more tempered with their reactions, predicting it would be a “decent movie based on the intro.” That’s not exactly the highest of praise, but honestly? A decent movie would shine like gold compared to everything else Sony has put out thus far.

Regardless, this is certainly promising news. I’m pretty sure most of the world had already written the SSU off at this point, perhaps it has finally found its flow, it only took 5 years! 

Let’s hold our horses for a second

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I want this movie to suck, but we shouldn’t be celebrating this as a win just yet. Let’s that this is only the opening eight minutes and of course Sony is going to showcase something that makes the film look enticing. I being excited for Morbius back in 2022 based on the clips I saw – look how that turned out.

Has Sony changed?

I suppose the biggest question is has the SSU learned from its mistakes? So far I would say no, but then again, Kraven the Hunter has already set itself apart from its predecessors by being the first R-rated movie in Sony’s universe. Perhaps people just got a little excited over all the violence and mayhem that they didn’t notice the film was just as trash as the rest, like a cheap paint job on a broken car, it won’t hide the flaws forever. 

Or maybe I’m just being pessimistic and this movie has taken the criticisms levied at the others and made something new and exciting. The footage isn’t available online yet so it’s difficult to come to a solid conclusion, but part of me is worried we’re just going to get another Morbius, this time with blood, guts, and swearing.

What do you get when you cross an excellently made movie with Hollywood’s ridiculous compulsion of capitalizing on IPs and making as many sequels as the box office returns warrant them to make? You get what you [redacted] deserve!

When I finally sat down to watch Madame Web earlier this year — and not in a theater, mind you— the movie constantly reminded me of a famous quote by Roger Ebert. “If you have to ask what it symbolizes, it didn’t.” You might think that I was thrown off by the dreadful dialogue, the extremely generic premise, or the borderline nonsensical MacGuffins that kept pushing the plot to where it needed to go. You might even assume that much like the rest of the audience (and it’s indeed rare that we cinephiles can find a lynchpin of such unanimous proportions as Madame Web) I found the barely-enthusiastic acting by the cast laughable and utterly ruinous to the film’s bare allusions to a suspension of disbelief.

But the simple truth of it is, Madame Web simply coalesced all my feelings about the industry into a very entertaining 2-hour ride. Entertaining for the fact that it was so bad I actually started to enjoy myself from a certain point on. Probably about the same time as when the cast gave up all attempts at taking this seriously.

The point is, it’s extremely difficult to drop the ball so hard that it starts bouncing around the arena and sends shock waves across the entire industry, once again making everyone question if Hollywood should just call it quits with this superhero filmmaking business. And then you realize they actually managed to do it twice in the same year. Enter Joker: Folie à Deux, a film so terrible that one critic described the experience of watching it as taking “a knife to the gut.”

Joker: Folie à Deux currently holds a 33% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 45 out of 100 on Metacritic, turning it into one of the worst superhero or drama films in recent memory. And while that’s not exactly as low as Madame Web stooped, Todd Phillips somehow managed to take one of the most beloved DC films of the past two decades and with a sequel steal Madame Web‘s thunder as the worst movie of 2024 that lacks even that ironic entertainment value.

This unasked-for sequel is turning into a flop thanks to the scathing reviews, already being hailed as a worse commercial disaster than The Marvels. Say what you will about Madame Web, but at least with that plot, I could understand why I hated everything that came on the screen. With Joker: Folie à Deux, it seems, you’re mostly confused and wondering when this fever dream is going to end. Any chance Phillips and Phoenix may have had to build on the acclaimed social commentary of the original film was lost the moment they decided to go full musical.

That said, let’s not be too hasty in bestowing Joker 2 with the crown of the worst 2024 film just yet. We still have, after all, Venom: The Last Dance to look forward to in late October, and something tells me that the threequel is going to be even worse than the first two installments.

2019’s Joker was a brilliant movie, with the inimitable Joaquin Phoenix’s tremendous Academy Award-winning lead performance anchoring it. That meant the excitement was palpable when a sequel was announced at the end of 2019.

However, once the second movie, Joker: Folie à Deux, was confirmed as a musical with Lady Gaga playing Harley Quinn, doubts about it started to creep into fans’ minds — and those doubts have proven to be justified, as early screenings didn’t go down well and it’s received a damning critical response since it hit theaters worldwide on Oct. 4.

It’s not very good and has been criticized for being oppressive, claustrophobic, and deliberately anti-crowd-pleasing, as well as for having a poor storyline that goes nowhere. James Gunn has seemingly distanced himself from it, and it’s more than noticeable that the new DC Studios logo is absent from the movie’s credits.

But a peculiar fact about Joker: Folie à Deux is that it’s so bad that it’s changing some people’s opinions about what was previously believed to be the worst film of 2024.

Which disaster is Joker: Folie à Deux being unfavorably compared to?

Another movie based on comic book characters, Sony Pictures Releasing’s Madame Web, was a critical and commercial disaster. It barely made back its budget and has a shocking 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The fact that many of its stars, including Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, have mocked the film and have distanced themselves from its reception is proof enough of its disastrous status.

However, now that people have seen Joker: Folie à Deux, many movie viewers’ opinions of Madame Web are changing, with a number of them preferring the monotonous Sony serving to the DC sequel — in fact, as per the aforementioned X post, the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe offering has a higher CinemaScore rating than the Joaquin Phoenix film (Madame Web is currently rated “C+” while Joker: Folie à Deux gets a “D”). While CinemaScore isn’t really an accurate assessment of a film’s worth, it’s still a damning indictment, to say the least.

Madame Web was criticized for everything from its weak story, unlikable characters, and clunky dialogues to its uninspired fight sequences, poor visual effects, and Johnson’s unenthusiastic acting. It’s unfathomable that it’s rated higher than the sequel to an Oscar-winning movie’s sequel, but here we are at a point where Madame Web is being touted as entertaining, fun, and bouncy and getting praise for having a story to tell. What have you done, Todd Philips?

When we last checked in on the Max streaming battlefront, both the heroes and the forces of darkness were testing their new recruits in the field; The Holdovers and Lisa Frankenstein for the heroes, Minions: The Rise of Gru for the villains. All the while, Madame Web and her cynical, artistically bankrupt cohorts continued to litter the landscape as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Beetlejuice tangoed on the podium with The Watchers.

But now, Madame Web stands almost completely alone; Night Swim has been eviscerated, Tarot is nowhere to be seen, and the prodigal son Minions: The Rise of Gru proved to not be so prodigal after all. Indeed, it appears the forces of darkness are on the brink of defeat, especially given the emergence of a legendary hero seeking to vindicate itself after falling to Madame Web in the early stages of this campaign.

Per FlixPatrol, this day of Sept. 18 has seen Shrek break into the Top 10 most-viewed films on Max, where it currently shores up 10th place, just a few hours/points shy of Madame Web‘s ninth place. The sorry Sony superhero slog, of course, claimed Shrek as its first victim when it first started terrorizing the streaming world on Netflix, but with this change of scenery and nary an ally to its name, Madame Web might not stand much of a chance this time around.

But Madame Web‘s empire is just one player in the Max theater; there’s still many more campaigns seeking their conclusion. One of them is Furiosa‘s battle against her old enemy The Garfield Movie, who first gouged Furiosa‘s box office chances before partnering with The Watchers to dethrone the George Miller epic from the top of Max’s charts. And despite a recent intervention from Beetlejuice (third place), The Watchers continues to reign supreme, with Furiosa still taking up second place.

Enter, however, The Batman, another heavily-stylized character study that has naturally found kinship with Furiosa, and is currently launching an assault on The Garfield Movie as retribution for its scandalous guerilla tactics. Mind you, The Batman still has a way to go before its seventh place turns into the sixth place currently held by The Garfield Movie, but the streaming wars are nothing if not a conflict of attrition.

Unfortunately, The Watchers must have anticipated The Batman‘s eventual involvement, because, in true Gotham fashion, it’s plunged the charts into some perverted martial law consisting of cops and the military. Indeed, from fourth place does Bad Boys: Ride or Die enforce some entirely able, legacy sequel oppression upon the denizens of the Max charts, while Fury—the David Ayer-helmed/penned war film starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, and Jon Bernthal as a tank crew desperately fighting their way through World War II-era —takes aim at dissenters from eighth place.

And all the while, David Fincher’s The Killer, a Netflix original film that somehow found its way onto Max, continues to lurk in fifth place like it has for so many weeks now. What could be the angle of this shadowy mercenary? Could it have been pulling these political strings the whole time? Was The Killer the true ringleader of this Watchers empire installation? Was the obliteration of Madame Web‘s sect of cinematic garbage all part of the plan? The battle, as they say, rages on.