Dakota Johnson turns on ‘Madame Web’ after flop

Actress Dakota Johnson said she wasn’t “surprised” by bad reviews for recent Sony/Marvel flick “Madame Web,” which performed poorly at the box office.

The movie was another record-setting disaster for Disney-owned Marvel but especially bad considering Marvel’s releases under Sony do not have as poor of a track record.

However, the film took in just $23.55 million for its first weekend, which included a special midweek Valentine’s Day opening. According to Box Office Mojo, the film had taken in just over $40 million after more than three weekends.

On top of saying that she was sick for the movie’s opening, Johnson said that when it came out, she couldn’t “take any of it seriously at all.”

Johnson was asked by Bustle if she was bothered by any of the nasty reviews the film had garnered, to which she replied, “Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has.”

What followed was Johnson’s critique that has been echoed by many actors and comedians in recent years, noting that network and studio executives have increased their footprint in the creation of art.

“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 bulls**t.”

The actress even added that if films begin to feature artificial intelligence, “Humans aren’t going to f**king want to see those.”

While the Austin, Texas, native said “Madame Web” was “definitely an experience,” she said that she would probably “never do anything like it again.”

“I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now,” she explained. “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.”

With “Madame Web” performing so poorly, it was one of the worst flops in comic-book movie history. Critics agreed; the film raked in an abysmal rating of 12% on popular review site Rotten Tomatoes.

Critiques were summarized by labeling the film “predictable” and a “forgettable superhero adventure.”

The film also notably “brims with cringeworthy scenes,” entertainment writer Christian Toto noted. “If you can watch the endangered trio dancing on a table for the bemusement of some horny young men, you’ve got a steel spine,” he added.

Johnson gave similar scathing remarks about the state of Hollywood on the film’s press tour, saying that it was “majorly disheartening” to try to get movies made.

“The people who run streaming platforms don’t trust creative people or artists to know what’s going to work, and that is just going to make us implode,” she said, according to Variety.