Madame Web Tracking for Low Box Office Opening Over Valentine's Day Weekend
Madame Web is unlikely to take the #1 spot at the domestic box office on its opening weekend.
Sony's Madame Web, the Spider-Man spinoff starring 50 Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson, is set to debut at #2 at the domestic box office on Valentine's Day weekend. Projections have the movie underperforming Morbius, earning around a $25 million weekend, and trailing Bob Marley: One Love in their shared opening frame. Even with a relatively modest opening, the two movies are expected to pump some life into the box office, which hasn't had a real hit in 2024, with some of the year's most popular projects heading to streaming and the Mean Girls musical being one of the only movies to open at over $20 million this month.
Valentine's Day this year marks a six-day "weekend," with the date-night holiday dropping on a Wednesday, and President's Day happening on the following Monday. Deadline's early tracking has One Love tracking for $27 to $28 million during that period, and Madame Web tracking at $25 million.
It's not uncommon to launch genre movies on Valentine's Day; movies like Deadpool and A Good Day to Die Hard have come out to play opposite more conventional date movies like romantic comedies over the years. Last year, Marvel released Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania in the frame, and it earned $120 million.
S.J. Clarkson directed the movie, in which Johnson plays Cassandra Webb, a paramedic who leads a team of spider-themed superheroes after she develops the ability to see the future.
"I have always really loved Marvel movies. Madame Web was very enticing to me. This movie is before she ends up in a wheelchair," Johnson said in a behind-the-scenes video. "She's hyper-intelligent and her greatest superpower is her mind. When Cassie begins to experience her clairvoyance, she thinks she is losing her mind. Madame Web is unlike any other superhero. When you think about how Spider-Man flies through the air, or Venom when he changes, it's so mythical to us."
Sony Pictures has a synopsis for the movie: "'Meanwhile, in another universe…' In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures...if they can all survive a deadly present."
Madame Web arrives in theaters on February 14.