Dakota Johnson wasn't surprised at the disastrous reaction to Madame Web

Martin Macdonald - 5 March 2024, 18:00 Share

When Madame Web premiered to critics and audiences, Dakota Johnson sadly anticipated the scathing reception the movie received.

The Spider-Man Universe project was released last month but was a huge failure, being savaged by critics, with box office earnings of $91 million on a budget of $80m - and that doesn't take into account marketing costs.

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Johnson hasn't been shy in revealing that the finished product turned out to be completely different to what she signed up for.

When asked by Bustle how she felt about the movie's reviews, she responded:

"Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has."

Johnson continued:

"It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made — and it’s even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what’s really freaking me out — decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee. Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them.

"You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f*cking want to see those.

"But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now. But sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, Wait, what? But it was a real learning experience, and of course it’s not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds, but I can’t say that I don’t understand."