Emma Roberts Attributes ‘Madame Web’ Failure to the Internet: “People just make such a joke out of everything now”
“Madame Web” was released a few months ago to a lukewarm critical reception and low audience rating, typical of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe movies. The film was a notable box office bomb, though it did achieve moderate success on Netflix, driven by the memes and online chatter it generated.
Cast members like Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney have already commented on the movie’s performance. Johnson criticized the studio executives for meddling with the film, attempting to make it appeal to everyone. She made it clear that the final script was not the one she had originally agreed to shoot.
Johnson found herself in hot water with the studio, but she didn’t seem to mind, stating that she would never do something like that again. Sweeney, on the other hand, took a more stoic approach, claiming she was just an actress in the movie and even poked fun at it during an SNL sketch.
While some cast members blamed the studio or attributed the failure to bad luck, Emma Roberts, who portrayed Mary Parker, Peter’s mom, blamed “internet culture.” Roberts argued that internet culture mocks almost everything, ruining projects before they even have the chance to stand on their own.
Things work; things don’t work. Everyone likes to act like they can predict if they’re going to work or they’re not. And the truth is, you can’t. Things do badly, and then they blow up later on TikTok. Things do well, but then you watch them, and you’re like, “This did well?” There is no secret. It’s about doing something goodish and it hitting at the right time. Everything else is like a wish and a prayer. I’m not intimidated by failure, and I’m not intimidated by people having negative thoughts about something. I personally really loved “Madame Web.” I really enjoyed the movie. I thought everyone in it was great. The director, S.J. Clarkson, I think did an amazing job. She’s the reason I wanted to do that movie. If it wasn’t for internet culture and everything being made into a joke, I think that the reception would’ve been different. And that’s what bums me out about a lot of stuff, even stuff that I’ve done, is people just make such a joke out of everything now.
Variety
While the internet can be harsh on subpar or even some good projects, it’s not fair to blame people for not liking the movie. While “review-bombing” can influence ratings to some extent, the project’s success ultimately depends on its quality. In this case, perhaps we should focus on the cast, writers, and directors—the people who created the movie—rather than those who created the memes.
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