Sony is dangerously harming superhero films

Sony’s year started with Madam Web, which was a critical and box office failure. The film, which starred Dakota Johnson as supporting character Spider-Man, has been called the worst superhero movie ever made by some. It grossed $100 million at the box office, slightly more than its production budget, and received an 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

While audiences are already complaining about the oversaturation and decline in quality of superhero films, a flop like Madame Web only accentuates the feeling that the genre is in decline. In previous years, such a massive failure would likely have been forgotten as audiences moved on to the next release, but in a year with so few releases in the genre, it became iconic. The film became an indictment not of Sony but of the genre as a whole.