LOS ANGELES, California – The latest addition to the Sony Spider-Man Universe, Madame Web, struggled to capture the attention of audiences during its opening weekend at the box office. The superhero film grossed $17.6 million in the U.S. during its 3-day opening weekend and $25.8 million during a six-day period, marking the worst opening for any Spider-Man Universe movie.
Madame Web opened in second place in the U.S. behind Paramount’s latest music biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, which earned $27.7 million in the 3-day weekend and $51 million during its six-day stretch. Internationally, Madame Web launched with $25.7 million at the box office.
The film claimed the unwanted title of becoming the first Marvel-based movie since Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot to not open at number one. Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson, follows the story of a superhero with the power to see the future and change it, but even she might have been taken aback by the movie’s disappointing box office debut.
Madame Web currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 13%, with IGN’s review calling it “mediocre,” noting that it “fails the talent and the future of its onscreen Spider-Women” with “extraneous characters, basic archetypes, and generic dialogue.”
The disappointing performance of Madame Web at the box office has prompted questions about the future of the teen thriller. While the film faced challenges in its reception, it still remains to be seen what impact it will have in the larger context of the superhero genre.