If you are as chronically online as I am, you may have heard of the upcoming Madame Web movie. In it, paramedic Cassandra Webb develops clairvoyant powers after surviving a traumatic accident. Teaming up with three other young women, the group must survive a deadly present to reach a powerful future.
Starring Dakota Johnson, Isabel Merced, Celeste O’Connor, and Sydney Sweeney, the film is the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is set to be released on Valentine’s Day. While it is not uncommon for action movies to be released on Valentine’s Day to play opposite romantic comedies (think of Deadpool or Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania), Madame Web’s marketing team has leaned into the idea more than most.
Most notably, a TikTok-style video was recently released with the cast answering the question “Which superpower would you want on a first date?” They have also released a skit with influencer Haley Khalil about using clairvoyance to help with relationship problems. Alongside traditional Marvel marketing, the emphasis on romantic content appears a bit out of place and is leaving movie-goers confused as well. Some have called the marketing simply the “worst“.
So why did the Madame Web team decide to go in this confusing direction? My first guess would be to appeal to a female audience. The film features a female-led cast, straddling the male-dominated Marvel fan base and a feminist-centric plot. To be successful, Madame Web therefore must appeal to a growing demographic of action movie fans to do well in the box office.
Additionally, to be quite frank, stars such as Johnson and Sweeney have not traditionally appealed to a female audience. Their most well-known work, Fifty Shades of Grey and Euphoria, respectively, weaponize the male gaze to portray the actors as figures of sexual idealism. Johnson has even joked that, because of Sweeney, the film is “like if AI generated your boyfriend’s perfect movie.” This is not at all a commentary on the actors’ merit or personhood, but rather on the way filmmakers utilized their conventional attractiveness in past projects, often leading to both actors feeling uncomfortable and overly sexualized. Think about Sweeney’s request for less topless scenes in the second season of Euphoria. In some ways, Madame Web really breaks down the archetype for these actors in a pretty radical way. However, from a marketing perspective, Madame Web must then do extra work to make its stars appealing and empowering to the female audience and gaze.
However, despite any best intentions, the marketing has missed the mark, and so it seems the box office as well. With a projected earning of $56 million – $101 million, it trails behind other Spiderverse projects such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
But opening weekend has not happened yet. Only time will tell if Madame Web can overcome initial audience skepticism and succeed on the big screen.