‘Madame Web’ Flop ‘Wasn’t My Fault’: Decisions Are Made in Hollywood by ‘People Who Don’t Have a Creative Bone in Their Body’
Dakota Johnson told the Los Angeles Times on her Materialists press tour that Madame Web flop with critics and audiences wasn’t her fault.
The Sony-backed comic book movie was a notorious failure in winter 2024, earning dismal $43 million at the domestic box office and 11% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Johnson headlined the film as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic with the ability to see the future after near-death experience.
Johnson says the movie’s reception: “I don’t have a Band-Aid over it. There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do that again’ to anything. I’ve done even tiny movies that didn’t do well. Who cares?”
The actor told Bustle last year a few weeks after “Madame Web” nosedived in theaters that “films are made by a filmmaker and team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. Audiences are extremely smart, and execs have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullshit.”
“They’re not good,” Johnson said about the rom-com scripts that came her way. “A lot of what I read these days is void of soul and heart. Celine is all soul and heart. I really love a rom-com if it feels like I can connect to the people in it. I’ve found it hard to connect to the people in some of the ones that I’ve been offered.”
Materialists felt different for Johnson because of “the complexities of all of the characters. The paradox. Everyone being confused about what the fuck they’re supposed to do with their hearts. And what’s the right move? I found that very honest and I found it just so relatable.”
Materialists opens in theaters June 10 from A24.
Go to the Los Angeles Times to read more from Johnson’s interview.
