Madame Web pulled in approximately $77 million after its first two weekends in theaters. However, this tally includes a lackluster performance during its six-day opening over the President’s Day weekend, commencing the preceding Wednesday and spanning through Monday, only managing a meager $26 million domestically.
While the initial success of 2018’s Venom, boasting a blockbuster $856 million haul, set a strong financial precedent, subsequent releases have failed to maintain the momentum. The 2021 follow-up, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, saw diminished returns, raking in $507 million globally—a respectable figure considering the pandemic context, but one that failed to match production costs, signaling a downturn in the franchise's profitability.
Morbius’ disappointing worldwide earnings of $167.5 million in 2022 further confirmed that Let There Be Carnage's underperformance was no aberration, indicating a waning interest in Sony's superhero cinematic ventures—a trend possibly influencing the broader decline in audience turnout for superhero films in theaters.
Despite these setbacks, Sony remains steadfast in its commitment to forge ahead with its own cinematic superhero universe.
The downward trajectory continues with Madame Web, whose critical reception mirrors that of the rest of the Spider-Man Universe spinoffs: abysmal. Garnering a dismal 13% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and eliciting lukewarm to downright indifferent responses from audiences, the film stands as the lowest-rated entry in Sony’s spinoff roster, a dubious distinction considering the lackluster reception of its predecessors. Talk about its budget, this film has been made around $80 million.
