Reviews are coming in for Sony Pictures’ upcoming Madame Web film and the critics are not fans to say the least.
Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney) and Mattie Franklin (Celeste OConnor) in Columbia Pictures MADAME WEB.
On Metacritic the film currently has a Metascore of 31 with just one positive review, three mixed reviews, and four negative reviews.
Madame Web Metacritic critic score
Here’s what the early reviewers are saying on Metacritic:
Alonso Duralde at The Film Verdict gave the movie a 62. He wrote, “None of this would work without Johnson, whose gift for side-eye and deadpan line readings grounds what could be a very silly story into one with real human stakes (that do not, thankfully, involve the fate of the entire world).”
Witney Seibold at Slashfilm gave the movie a 60. She wrote, “Madame Web does not provide a crowd-pleasing bombast. This is a pity, as this odd duck makes for a fascinating watch. This may be one of the final films of the superhero renaissance. Enjoy it before it topples over entirely.”
Nick Schager at The Daily Beast gave the film a 40. He said, “On the basis of Madame Web, however, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is now completely lifeless—and in no need of resuscitation.
Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter in Madame Web (2024), Sony Pictures
David Ehrlich at IndieWire gave the film a 33. He stated, “An inoffensive, almost endearingly lame whiff of a movie that has the misfortune of arriving at a time when the superhero genre has almost returned to pre-MCU levels of popularity, this ‘Daredevil’-ass disaster is hilariously retrograde for a story about someone who discovers that she can see a few seconds into the future.”
Manuel Betancourt at The A.V. Club gave the film a 25. He said, “The film is often so hurried or so preoccupied with what’s to come that it ignores what’s happening in the moment.”
Barry Hertz at The Globe and Mail gave the film a 0. He explained, “Stupendously stupid and never remotely in control of its faculties, the film represents a kind of weaponized incompetence, hostile and assaultive.”
Ezekiel (Tahar Rahim) in Columbia Pictures MADAME WEB.
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IGN gave the film a 50. The outlet explained, “Madame Web has the makings of a interesting superhero psychological thriller, but with a script overcrowded with extraneous characters, basic archetypes, and generic dialogue, it fails the talent and the future of its onscreen Spider-Women.”
Molly Freeman at ScreenRant gave the film a 30. She detailed, “Madame Web is boring, unimaginative and dated, despite being one of very few superhero movies centering on female superheroes. All in all, Madame Web is a superhero movie you can absolutely skip.”
Celeste O’Connor as Mattie Franklin, Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon, and Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter in Madame Web (2024), Sony Pictures
YouTuber Jeremy Jahns also torched the film saying, “It’s a cinematic train wreck with the worst script of the year so far. I get it, still pretty early in the year, still feel like it’s going to hold that title for awhile.”
He added, “It’s a mess that lacks cohesion. A superhero film that once again has shoddy CGI and action sequences, a forgettable antagonist. And a protagonist that feels like Madame Web in name only. It plays out like Dollar Store Next with Nicholas Cage meets Dollar Store Terminator.”
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These poor reviews are unlikely to aid the film’s box office performance. Originally, Box Office Pro predicted the film would only gross between $25 million and $35 million in its opening weekend at domestic theaters. The outlet went on to claim its entire domestic run would only gross between $56 million and $101 million.
To put that in perspective, that’s predicted to be worse than Morbius. The Jared Leto film had an opening weekend of $39 million and went on to gross $73.8 million at the domestic box office in its entire run. The film added another $88.8 million internationally for a global gross of $162.7 million.
Cassandra Webb/Madame Web (Dakota Johnson) in Columbia Pictures MADAME WEB.
While the initial predictions were already terrible, Box Office Pro’s latest projections are even worse. On February 8th, the outlet noted that it believes the film will only gross between $15 million and $24 million in its opening weekend.
Furthermore, it shared that its entire domestic haul will end up being between $42 million and $78 million.
For all intents and purposes it looks like Madame Web is not only a terrible film, but will perform terribly at the box office as well.
Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb in Madame Web (2024), Sony Pictures
What do you make of these earlier reviews for Madame Web?
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