Madame Web box office performance breaks a 9-year-old Marvel record

It would be fair to say that the MCU has struggled at the box office in the last year or so, which has only continued with Madame Web. Producing flop after flop, Sony’s Madame Web was the latest MCU offering that was expected to bring about a bit of a revival. Part of the iconic Spider-Verse, which has already resulted in success for both Sony and Marvel, the recent film has been disastrous for multiple reasons.

The movie had been trolled on the internet incessantly even before its release. This was due to some questionable dialogue that had been part of the trailer. This was followed by the movie release, which has only led to further criticism.

Finally, the lead actor, Dakota Johnson, has also been criticized almost continuously. The actress had only recently revealed that she had, to date, not watched her own movie and had no plans to do so either. The criticism has been followed by a lackluster box-office performance, which has now led to Madame Web breaking a 9-year-old Marvel record previously held by none other than Sony’s Fantastic Four.

The movie has become the lowest-grossing Sony superhero movie of all time. It is also the second-worst opening record for any offering from the global giants to date.

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Madame Web continues disastrous run, breaks 9-year-old Marvel record

Madame Web breaks bleak record set by Fantastic Four (2015): byu/Ek_Tha_Clarku incomicbookmovies

The MCU’s struggles have continued of late. The Marvels proved to be disastrous, while a range of recent TV series have also been criticized. Furthermore, the controversy surrounding Jonathan Majors and the commitment that the MCU gave to Kang the Conqueror means that the entire franchise is currently in limbo with respect to its future.

Regardless, Madame Web has now broken 9-year record that was previously held by Sony’s 2015 reboot of the Fantastic Four. This is after the movie opened with only $25.8 million in earnings over the recent holiday stretch, which included Valentine’s and President's Day.

This means that it now has the worst-ever opening for a Sony movie released to date, barring One Love, which was a Bob Marley biography. The fact that the movie failed to claim the top spot at the box office upon its debut means that it is the first-ever Marvel-based movie to suffer such a fate.

Regarded as one of the worst superhero movies of all time, Sony’s Fantastic Four opened to a lukewarm box office reception and was criticized by fans everywhere. It has a 13% Rotten Tomatoes rating, which coincidentally is the exact number at which Madame Web also stands currently.

Of course, part of the Spider-Verse, that also includes Tom Holland’s Spider-Man iteration as well as the Venom series headlined by Tom Hardy, Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web has disappointed fans and is already being viewed as one of the worst Marvel projects to date. The reception has not only added to the overall MCU’s woes; it has also cast a huge question mark over Johnson’s future in the overall franchise.

As Marvel gears up for its iteration of the Fantastic Four, it will be interesting to see how Madame Web and the future of the characters it introduced are delved into.