Madame Web is spinning right into Netflix, ComicBook.com reported.
The platform will host the streaming debut of Sony’s fourth Spider-Man Universe film on May 14. The female-centric film revolves around several Marvel Comics’ Spider-Women, locked in a fight for their survival set in the early 2000s. The movie made its theatrical debut in February, and has since received disappointing reviews from fans and critics alike.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Madame Web scored an abysmal 12% Tomatometer score but a better yet slightly sad 57% audience rating. The movie also earned a paltry $15.3 million in domestic opening, but a heartier $100.3 million on the global box office.
Madame Web spins her way into your screens
Madame Web tells the origin story of Cassandra “Cassie” Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York City paramedic, who is forced to face her past all the while trying to survive and helping three women whose powerful futures make them targets of a powerful enemy. Johnson also stars with Sydney Sweeney (Julia Cornwall/Spider-Woman), Isabela Merced (Anya Corazon/Spider-Woman) and Celeste O’Connor (Mattie Franklin/Spider-Woman).
The movie also stars Tahar Rahim as Ezekiel Sims, alongside Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott and Zosia Mamet.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura previously said, “It’s really the story of Madame Web. So, in that respect, if you’re a Spider-Man fan, you’re gonna love the character because you know it from the comic books, which she doesn’t really have that big a character in the comic books, we’re doing the origin story of Madame Web. And so you meet her before she’s actually the person that you know in the comic book and you come to understand how she becomes that person. So, I think that’ll be a really fresh new terrain for the fans.”
While the film still had a lot of plot points that needed to be addressed, including the origin stories of the three other Spider-Women, its critical and commercial failure may have doomed it to remain a stand-alone movie. There has been no official announcement of a sequel or follow-up.
Director SJ Clarkson addressed the unfinished stories of the other Spider-Women by saying, “I thought it would be a bit greedy to do four origin stories. That’s not really fair, is it? I’ve got to share it.”
She explained that the movie really is all about Madame Web, but acknowledged the existence of the other Spider-Women by teasing enough of their storylines.
What’s wrong with it?
While there have been quite a few harsh criticisms about the movie, the most hilarious take has to be the one from Hush director Mike Flanagan on Letterboxd. The gems aren’t in his actual review, which reads a lot like the AMC commercial’s script, but in the tags. Chief among them are “exposition to cats” and “adr, dubbing, no really, the adr,” calling out the movie’s use of the automated dialogue replacement technology.
However, Sweeney was pretty ambivalent about the movie’s success… or lack thereof.
“I was just hired as an actress in it, so I was just along for the ride for whatever was going to happen,” the actress explained, adding that she’s really just one cog in the machine.
Be that as it may, those of you who haven’t watched the movie — and never planned to — who have Netflix subscriptions can decide for yourselves.
Madame Web will start streaming on Netflix on May 14.
