Emma Roberts Blames Internet Culture for Madame Web Flopping

Emma Roberts has attributed Madame Web's poor box office performance and critical reception to internet culture and "everything being made into a joke."

Speaking to Variety, Roberts, who played Mary Parker in the movie, weighed in on Madame Web flopping, saying that she didn't think the online reaction to it helped matters (one line of dialogue in the trailer went viral after people poked fun at it, and that line didn't even make it into the final cut of the movie).

"There is no secret. It's about doing something goodish, and it hitting at the right time," Roberts said. "I'm not intimidated by failure, and I'm not intimidated by people having negative thoughts about something. I personally really loved Madame Web. I really enjoyed the movie. I thought everyone in it was great. The director, S.J. Clarkson, I think, did an amazing job. She's the reason I wanted to do that movie.

"If it wasn't for internet culture and everything being made into a joke, I think that the reception would've been different," she added. "And that's what bums me out about a lot of stuff, even stuff that I've done, is people just make such a joke out of everything now."

People just make such a joke out of everything now

Madame Web received largely negative reviews from critics (with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 11%) when it came out, and it seemed like everyone had something to say about it, including lead star Dakota Johnson. She admitted she was "not surprised" by the reaction to the movie and would probably "never do anything like it again."

Sydney Sweeney, who starred as Julia Cornwall (aka Spider-Woman), admitted she was "along for the ride," but used her Saturday Night Live monologue to emphasize all the other acting roles she is known for and completely disowned her turn as the Spidey superheroine, saying: "You definitely did not see me in Madame Web."

Madame Web pulled in $17.6 million in the U.S. during its three-day opening weekend, making it the worst opening for any Spider-Man Universe movie, including vampire flick Morbius, which made $39.1 million in its three-day debut in 2022. It also became the first Marvel film since Fox's Fantastic Four reboot to not open at number one.

Hideo Kojima, the legendary game director behind Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, couldn't muster up more than six words in his review. IGN managed a few more, putting the film's failings down to an "overcrowded" script loaded with "extraneous characters, basic archetypes, and generic dialogue."

However, Madame Web appeared in Netflix's Top 10 shortly after it arrived on streaming, and IGN's Amelia Emberwing thinks that's right where it belongs.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.