Madame Web Bombs, will Hollywood ever learn its lesson?

2023 has been a tough year for the film industry, and 2024 isn’t going to start much better post-Sony Madame Web The latest superhero movie has become a flop. And backwards WondersIt raises important questions about the direction Hollywood is headed, and the extent to which it is willing to allow political activism to be a driver.

Madame Web It effectively captures what the modern film industry wants to do with its releases; He hit his acting goals. It has a director, SJ Clarkson. There are two women credited with writing the screenplay. The film’s cast is dominated by women: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabella Merced, and Celeste O’Connor. It’s a diverse group as well, with a number of different racial and ethnic groups represented.

It’s even loosely related to being very popular Spider Man being. While it is not directly linked to Tom Holland’s starring role Spider Man Movies or highly successful films Spiderverse films, has a tangential connection to Sony’s other superhero projects. And it still fails miserably, in a way reminiscent of Disney/Marvel’s Brie Larson. Wonders.

is reading: The Marvels movie may be Disney’s biggest box office flop to date

Which raises the question, why does Hollywood keep doing this to itself?

Pandering and virtue signaling hurt Hollywood

Madame Web It opened to just over $15 million despite being placed in over 4,000 theaters across the country. It took advantage of opening on Valentine’s Day and taking advantage of the long President’s Day weekend.

It still grossed just $26 million domestically in its first six days. For a film that was ostensibly meant to launch a franchise, it was an unmitigated disaster, likely ending any possibility of a longer series.

to fail Wonders And Madame Web It highlights a much larger structural problem in Hollywood: they put their desirable political outlook ahead of quality filmmaking. After 2016, and especially after 2020, the industry recommitted to representation first. It has, quite literally, introduced quotas for major projects and award possibilities.

In doing so, the industry set itself on a path to producing films that would attract an audience that didn’t already exist.

Of course, making films targeting women makes sense. But making superhero movies aimed at women is not. Barbie It was one of the most financially successful films of 2023, despite its severe flaws. Because it was a film directed at women and centered around a character and a message that women responded to.

But in trying to force equal gender representation in superhero movies, Hollywood is trying to make women see stories and characters they have no interest in. They were beaten in the process.

Will Hollywood correct its course?

There are countless examples of films that target audiences correctly. Action movies like Mission: Impossible String or The best, or Lord of the rings. They were created not out of political necessity, but out of appropriate creative motives. They worked financially and critically.

Madame Web It was the opposite. A film that no one asked for, with a huge budget to achieve a specific acting goal.

To the surprise of absolutely no one outside of Sony, it failed.

Disney has become the poster child for gradual financial failure, but this release shows that these problems are not limited to one studio, but rather across the entire industry. If it’s not fixed soon, the already shaky entertainment industry could take further financial hits.

Or maybe they’ll keep going out Strong woman-Style series and sequel starring Captain Marvel. And continue to lose money.