Madame Web is going from studying spiders in the Amazon to screening in a major market. On Thursday, Sony Pictures confirmed that Madame Web will be released in China, with the film expected to debut in theaters in the country on March 1, 2024. Madame Web marks the first Sony’s Spider-Man Universe film to screen in China in several years, after both Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage were blocked.
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2018’s Venom did open in China — and had a marketing campaign leaning into the titular character’s lovability — and ultimately made a whopping $269 million in that market alone. Time will only tell if Madame Web fares similarly.
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.
“It’s really the story of Madame Web,” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura previously told ComicBook.com. “So, in that respect, if you’re a Spider-Man fan, you’re gonna love the character because you know it from the comic books, which she doesn’t really have that big a character in the comic books, we’re doing the origin story of Madame Web. And so you meet her before she’s actually the person that you know in the comic book and you come to understand how she becomes that person. So, I think that’ll be a really fresh new terrain for the fans.”
Who Is in the Cast of Madame Web?
In addition to Johnson, Madame Web will also star Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter / Spider-Woman, Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon / Spider-Woman, and Celeste O’Connor as Mattie Franklin / Spider-Woman. The film will also star Tahar Rahim as Ezekiel Sims, with Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott, and Zosia Mamet cast in currently-unknown roles.
“I’ve always been a really big fan of all the Marvel and Sony Universe movies,” Sydney explained in a 2022 interview shortly after being cast. “I’ve grown up watching them all and I’ve been engulfed in the entire world my entire life, so being able to be a part of that is such an incredible, incredible thing.”
Is Madame Web Connected to Spider-Man?
In a recent interview, Madame Web director S.J. Clarkson confirmed that the film is not directly connected to any previous live-action incarnations of Spider-Man, despite theories from fans hoping for the contrary.
“She’s definitely in a standalone world,” Clarkson told the outlet. “I was able to just have free rein and let the movie be what it needed to be, as opposed to trying to force it into something else. That was a gift, in a way, to be able to take something and bring a fresh and I hope original take to it.”
Are you excited for Madame Web? What do you think of it getting a confirmed release in China? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
Madame Web is currently scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on February 14th.
