While Madame Web, the new outing in Sony Marvel's ever-expanding Spider-Man universe, is considered a camp classic on Twitter, it's fair to say that wider audiences... didn't love the Cassandra Webb movie. Star Sydney Sweeney isn't too bothered by the backlash, though.
"I was just hired as an actress in it, so I was just along for the ride for whatever was going to happen," Sweeney candidly told Los Angeles Times while promoting her upcoming religious horror Immaculate.
An origin story of sorts, Madame Web follows New York-based paramedic Cassie (Dakota Johnson), as it reinvents her comic book beginnings and presents a new way in which she becomes the eponymous superhero. Directed by Jessica Jones' S. J. Clarkson, it sees Cassie inexplicably finds herself with psychic abilities following a near-death experience.
Onboard a train one evening, she sees a horrifying vision of a man murdering three young women – one of which is Sweeney's character Julia Cornwall – and saves them all by intervening, subsequently thrusting the foursome into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the would-be killer.
The film is said to have pulled in a disappointing $96.9 million, which is very little when you consider it cost around $80 million to make. In terms of reviews, it's currently rated just 12% on Rotten Tomatoes, beating out the likes of Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage in terms of lowest score.
Madame Web is in theaters now. If you've already seen it, check out our list of upcoming superhero movies heading our way. Listen to our chats with stars Dakota Johnson and Tahar Rahim, as well as director S. J. Clarkson, on a previous episode of the Inside Total Film podcast.
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