The Materialists star says Madame Web‘s box office debacle wasn’t her fault, attributing the flop to poor creative decisions made by non-creatives and a chaotic production process.
LOS ANGELES, June 6 – Dakota Johnson has finally opened up about the much-publicized failure of Madame Web, distancing herself from the creative decisions that led to the Marvel-adjacent film’s box office collapse. Speaking candidly in a new interview with The Los Angeles Times, the actress laid the blame squarely on the interference of executives and creative committees.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Johnson said. “There’s this thing that happens now where a lot of creative decisions are made by committee—or made by people who don’t have a creative bone in their body. And it’s really hard to make art that way.”
Johnson said the film, which initially showed promise, “started out as something and turned into something else,” and by the time major shifts occurred, she was simply “along for the ride.” She added, “That happens. Bigger-budget movies fail all the time.”
Despite Madame Web becoming a cautionary tale in an era of superhero fatigue, Johnson insisted she holds no grudge. “There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do that again,’” she said, referring to projects that don’t perform well, regardless of scale. “I’ve done even tiny movies that didn’t do well. Who cares?”
Madame Web, which starred Johnson as a paramedic who develops psychic powers in Sony’s Spider-Man universe, opened to a disappointing $51.5 million worldwide—well below its reported $80 million budget. The film also featured Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Emma Roberts, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, and Adam Scott.
In a separate interview with Bustle, Johnson admitted the experience made her reconsider her fit in the superhero genre. “I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now,” she said. She described the production process as a confusing journey where the original concept morphed into something unrecognizable.
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra later acknowledged the film’s poor box office run but defended its creative merits. “Madame Web underperformed in theaters because the press just crucified it,” Vinciquerra said, suggesting the film fared much better on streaming platforms like Netflix. “It was not a bad film.”
He compared the media’s treatment of Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter to the critical reception of Venom, saying, “The press decided they didn’t want us making these films… These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”
Despite the studio’s attempt to salvage its Marvel lineup and Johnson’s reflective stance, Madame Web continues to serve as a cautionary tale in Hollywood—highlighting the challenges of balancing creative vision with studio interference.