Madame Web’s Global Box Office Debuts Is Worse Than Morbius

It’s Madame Web‘s first weekend in theaters, and the Dakota Johnson picture isn’t having its best time over an extended holiday weekend. Though most superhero blockbusters end up winning their respective weekends at the box office, Madame Web lost its debut to a new Bob Marley biopic. Not just that, but it looks like the film is going to end up grossing less than Morbius—one of the most widely-panned comic book movies ever released—did during its premiere weekend.

Through Sunday, it’s said the film has made $50 million at the global box office. Morbius, on the other hand, grossed $84 million in its worldwide box office haul during its open weekend. The Jared Leto vehicle would go on to gross just $167.4 million throughout its box office run against a reported budget of $75 million. Madame Web is said to have a similar budget and given Morbius likely just broke even, Sony’s latest could end up losing the a studio a good chunk of cash.

Even though a sequel for the picture looks increasingly unlikely given its performance at the box office, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura previously hinted a follow-up could focus on the other Spider-Women introduced in the film since the film was confined to being a proper Madame Web origin story.

“We made a decision early on that the advantage in this story was not to attach it to all these other stories,” Bonaventura previously told ComicBook.com. “We tip the hat. But really, we wanted to concentrate on a character journey, and I think some of the superhero fatigue that people talk about is because those movies are often not about the central character.” 

“And so we felt it was a stronger choice for us to say, ‘This is Madame Web’s story,’” he continued. “She comes out of the Spider-Man comic books, but it’s not part of this other giant thing. It is its own standalone, which gave the freedom to really tell the character story.”

What Is Madame Web About?

In Madame Web, Cassandra “Cassie” Webb (Dakota Johnson) is forced to confront her past while trying to survive with three young women with powerful futures who are being hunted by a deadly adversary. In addition to Johnson, Madame Web also stars Sydney Sweeney as Julia Cornwall / Spider-Woman, Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon / Spider-Woman, and Celeste O’Connor as Mattie Franklin / Spider-Woman. 

Madame Web is now playing exclusively in theaters while Morbius is streaming on Netflix.