Sony’s Newest Marvel Movie Bomb Redeems Every MCU Box Office Failure By $100 Million

Summary Madame Web's lackluster box office performance sheds light on the challenges facing the Sony Spider-Man Universe.

With diminishing returns on recent releases, Sony's upcoming films like Kraven the Hunter face increased scrutiny.

Even some of the MCU's modest box office results still outperform Madame Web, putting its results into wider context.

Madame Web saw a decidedly lackluster box office result, which has some surprisingly positive implications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Madame Web released on February 14, 2024, and went on to earn less than $100 million worldwide due to its unpopular reception, making it one of the most unpopular live-action Spider-Man movies of all time. The Dakota Johnson-led superhero flick was the fourth film released in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) that doesn't feature a Spider-Man, and has seen diminishing returns with each subsequent release.

Sony's Spider-Man Universe has had its fair share of ups and downs, as the Venom movies fared considerably better than Morbius and Madame Web. As a result, it will be interesting to see how the upcoming Kraven the Hunter and Venom: The Last Dance perform, as the mixed receptions the franchise has received make both releases all the more important. Despite the mixed bag of Sony releases, though, it's easy to rank Madame Web at the bottom of Sony's universe - though the negative response to the film has provided some helpful context for Marvel's other installments.

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Madame Web's Box Office Is $100 Million Below Even The Lowest Grossing MCU Movie

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Madame Web's financial failure makes the MCU's box office woes look less startling. Its box office was just shy of $98 million, putting it far below even the worst-performing Marvel Cinematic Universe films. The MCU's lowest-grossing film is currently The Marvels, with a box office haul of almost $200 million. Before that was The Incredible Hulk from 2008, the second film in the MCU, which earned $265 million. These are the only two films in the MCU to fall below $300 million, with the third lowest-grossing movie being Captain America: The First Avenger earning $370 million in 2011.

Madame Web vs. MCU's Box Office Flops Movie Budget Worldwide Box Office Madame Web $80,000,000 $97,731,647 The Marvels $274,800,000 $199,706,250 The Incredible Hulk $137,500,000 $265,573,859 Black Widow $200,000,000 $379,751,131 Eternals $200,000,000 $401,731,759 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania $200,000,000 $463,635,303

Madame Web's Box Office Puts The MCU's Flops Into Context

If Madame Web's box office run proves anything, it is that things for the MCU could be worse.

The $200 million haul for The Marvels is historically low for the MCU. Only two films in the entire franchise have failed to break $300 million. If Madame Web's box office run proves anything, it is that things for the MCU could be worse. Making $100 million less than even the worst-performing movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows there is still more interest in the MCU than in other superhero universes, even at its lowest. It also highlights how the MCU's budgets can be seen to create complications for the box offices of its releases.

The typical rule-of-thumb for a movie to break even is 2.5x its budget. This covers production costs, marketing, and theater-split. Keeping budgets under control is key. The Marvels' budget was $275 million. If the MCU's box-office flops had a similar $80 million budget to Madame Web, none of them would have actually been considered a flop (with The Marvels essentially breaking even). While the diminishing returns of the MCU have been troubling for the studio, addressing budgets could help alleviate some of the damage done by less-than-ideal box-office returns.

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What Madame Web's Box Office Says About Superhero Movies

When it is all said and done, Madame Web will just be a footnote in the larger tapestry of superhero films, but its poor critical performance and extremely muted audience reception does highlight some pitfalls of the superhero genre. When the hype for a cinematic universe isn't the main factor anymore, there has to be some other draw, as it shows audiences aren't necessarily willing to watch any random character on screen anymore if it doesn't feed into the overall story.

Studios need to be more diligent than ever with superhero films not being the surefire hit they seemed to be just a few years ago, and while there are a range of ways to approach this matter, the key appears to be focusing in on them. Madame Web had poor reviews and no draw in terms of comic book prestige or a strong cinematic universe to help elevate it at the box office. This exemplifies how the box office landscape has changed, underlining that audiences won't show up for the new superhero movie just because it's a new superhero movie.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn't infallible. The Incredible Hulk in 2008 and a recent string of box office misfires capping off with The Marvels proved that. On the other hand, Madame Web showed things aren't as bad as they could be. However, it also provides a cautionary tale, as with the genre's box-office performance seeing some diminishing returns in the past few years, the MCU's bloated budgets, heavier focus on relatively unknown characters, and fewer in-universe connections may all be especially worth addressing with Sony's own movie context in mind.

Will Sony's Upcoming Marvel Movies Redeem Madame Web's Box Office?

While Madame Web saw notably poor box office returns, the future for Sony Spider-Man's Universe is currently looking more hopeful, since Venom: The Last Dance continues Sony's most successful live-action series. The original Venom saw a worldwide gross of $854 million on a budget of around $100 million, and while its sequel didn't pull in quite as much at the box office, it also made many hundreds of millions more than it cost.

Add to this the fact that Venom: The Last Dance is the next time audiences will be able to see Hardy's anti-hero after his surprise appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it's very possible the third movie could pull the Sony universe back onto the right tracks. That said, Sony's other movies make things more complicated.

After a tumultuous production process, it seems that El Muerto has come to a standstill, with the main and only actor confirmed for the project - that of popular musician Bad Bunny - having parted ways with it. The movie reportedly re-entered script development in January 2024, but given its initial release date was scheduled for that same month, things aren't looking promising.

This leaves Kraven The Hunter to try and re-establish the reputation of new Sony live-action releases. Kraven bringing Sony back on the right path is certainly possible given the character has been a part of many major comic moments, but it's currently unclear if it's quite set up to do so, with the Kraven The Hunter trailer seeing some divided reception due to it appearing to tee up Kraven for another Sony antihero role. Hopefully, those involved in the film will have learned from Morbius and Madame Web, and use this to their advantage with upcoming movies going forward.