Just because a film is a box office hit doesn’t mean it’ll be a hit on streaming. In fact, sometimes the opposite is true. Sometimes a film will bomb at the box office but create such curiosity that, when it hits streaming, people are willing to give it a shot anyway. Then, weeks or months later, that bomb is now suddenly a hit, just by a different metric.
A recent example of that is the 2024 film Madame Web. According to Bloomberg, the Dakota Johnson Spider-Man spin-off (pun intended) was Sony Pictures’ most-streamed movie on Netflix last year, beating all of the studio’s biggest box office hits such as Venom: The Last Dance and It Ends With Us. Each of those films grossed around $145 million domestically, while Madame Web grossed closer to $44 million. It also sports a more than warranted 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which certainly didn’t help.
Almost instantly after release, though, the film seemed to gain cult classic status, getting recognition on podcasts like How Did This Get Made and more. That it was so bad gave it name recognition, and when it started showing up on Netflix, people watched. The same carries over to Sony’s fifth best streaming title last year, Kraven the Hunter, another ill-conceived Spidey spinoff that made even less money than Madame Web.
These stats come as part of a larger article about Sony trying to figure out a way to get more money from its streaming bombs. As it stands now, its current deal with Netflix is based on how much a film makes at the box office. But if the movies that make less are doing better on streaming, clearly, there’s money being left on the table. It’s a whole thing, which you can read about here.
What we care most about, though, is the simple, basic lunacy that Madame Web can be considered, in a very cut-and-dry metric, a hit. Who could have seen that coming? Nobody—except, of course, Madame Web herself.
Like any superhero movie pushing women as its leads, Madame Web suffered a backlash that was almost strangely proportionate to Morbius—which was actually far worse. The Marvels, too, was panned, along with She-Hulk, in a pattern that suggests when women do “badly,” male fanboys are ready to pounce in such a way so as to ensure that studios are amply aware of it. And oh, how Sony became aware of it, scrapping any future plans to build a franchise out of Madame Web once the box office receipts were in. But what’s most unforgivable about Madame Web isn’t its plotline or even its more than occasionally cheesy dialogue (often rampant with use of ADR). No, instead, it’s certain musical details in particular that will gnaw at anyone versed in both their 00s and Britney history.
First in line on the offending front is the fact that “Toxic,” a single released in January of 2004 is being played when we’re still supposed to be in 2003. And it’s not even like it’s the winter of 2003, well after Spears’ fourth album, In the Zone, was released in mid-November. This can be gleaned by the fact that Cassandra (a rather too on-the-nose name choice for someone who can see into the future) Webb, played by Dakota Johnson, attends a barbeque in some fairly late summer-y clothing (being a Jessica Jones type thanks to S. J. Clarkson’s work in that universe, she’s bound to wear a jacket during any season). In truth, the entire cast dresses in a late summer/early fall manner, so it’s safe to say this is well before “Toxic” or even In the Zone could have conceivably been released.
Another giveaway that we’re still in summer of ’03 territory is the set design of a particular scene that chooses to very deliberately spotlight a looming poster of Beyoncé’s debut album, Dangerously in Love, which only would have been that loud and proud in June of ‘03 (what with New York constantly turning over its ad space), many months before In the Zone came out, not to mention “Toxic” itself, which wouldn’t be released to radio as a single until January of ‘04. Maybe December, if someone wants to truly believe in how “ahead of the curve” New York is. But since we’re clearly somewhere in the summer of ‘03, this little detail just doesn’t quite jive (to use a word that Britney’s erstwhile record label named itself after). This seems to be happening with, dare one say, slight regularity as the 00s slip evermore into the “period piece” category. Saltburn, too, was guilty of such inattention to detail about 2007 in particular, yet it was perhaps more easily forgiven because it ended up being so beloved (in no small part thanks to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dance Floor”).
As for Madame Web being oddly specific about wanting to set its stage in 2003 (and in case one isn’t immediately sure it’s 2003 based on the quickly-flashed title card, Cassie is shown driving past a Blockbuster in her ambulance), director and co-writer S. J. Clarkson’s reasoning could be twofold: 1) she wanted to start the movie during a flashback to 1973 and then only flashforward thirty years to reveal present-day Cassandra and 2) 2003 is sort of that “sweet spot,” technology-wise. A time when things were advanced enough with phones and computers (hell, Britney was already singing love songs centered on e-mails in 1998, when “E-Mail My Heart” was recorded), but not so advanced that your every move could be tracked, and your face instantly recognized on any CCTV camera.
This, obviously, is why the extremely lame villain of the narrative, Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), is obsessed with some “cutting-edge” technology that only the NSA (on especially high alert at that time in the wake of 9/11) has access to. Enough to seduce one of its agents and steal her top-secret access to this “special tech” that would become garden-variety in most people’s phones after 2007. Alas, since we’re still in the “early days” of facial recognition, Ezekiel is sure to include (quite expositorily) in his pillow talk, “But as the years pass, there have been technological advances. New ways to find people if you know their faces [which he does because he has nightly visions of the three Spider-Women who will kill him]. The kind of technology I’ve heard the National Security Agency has been pursuing.”
Once he gets the woman’s security access after poisoning her, he passes the technology off to his “employee,” Amaria (Zosia Mamet, seeming to enjoy roles where she works for dubious people if The Flight Attendant is another indication), who hacks into “the system” to wait for a hit on one or all of these faces: Mattie (Celeste O’Connor), Anya (Isabela Merced) and Julia (Sydney Sweeney). With regard to Sweeney once again going the Euphoria route by playing a teen girl, it bears noting that, at twenty-six, she isn’t all that much younger than “thirty-year-old” Cassandra (Johnson’s actual age is thirty-four). Meanwhile, O’Connor is twenty-five and Merced is twenty-two. Yet it’s Sweeney who the costume designers seem to go out of their way to dress in some interpretation of an 00s teen girl. This tends to mean a lot of Britney looks, including overalls at one point and then, for the majority of the movie, Sweeney’s own riff on a “…Baby One More Time” schoolgirl outfit.
Relying on Cassie and her premonitions after they’re attacked on the train by Ezekiel, the man they’ll keep referring to as “ceiling guy,” the “teens” trust her enough to let her lead them into some secluded woods where no one can track them, technologically anyway. Afterward, Cassie is foolish enough to tell a trio of teen girls to “stay put” (as if), leaving them to go do some more “research” on who this “ceiling guy” is by returning to her apartment and going through her mother’s old journals from 1973. As she conveniently unearths the valuable information that will tell her who Ezekiel is, the trio grows bored and hungry enough to abandon the woods in favor of a diner off the highway. It’s during this scene that Mis-Teeq’s “Scandalous” starts playing. Which would be passable (since it did exist in 2003), one supposes, were it not for the fact that the director then makes it very clear that the song is playing diegetically. Heard by everyone at the diner as they walk in to the tune of “Scandalous” then sounding over the speakers. The same goes for Spears’ “Toxic,” with Mattie even announcing, “I love this song.”
Back in the woods, Cassie returns to find an empty clearing followed by a vision wherein a key part of it is “Toxic” providing the soundtrack as the girls are attacked by “ceiling guy” at the diner they’ve absconded to. Cassie gets an immediate sense of foreboding when time “resets” again and the song’s signature opening notes start to play from her stolen taxi as the DJ declares, “This track is going to be huge! Are you in the zone?” Oddly, though—and despite all the radio pushing when it was actually unleashed on the airwaves—Mis-teeq’s “Scandalous” fared about as well on the charts with less radio rotation. This being another track “technically” in existence in 2003 (when it was released on Mis-Teeq’s second [and last] album, Eye Candy), it didn’t start popping off on U.S. radio until April of 2004. Its “revival,” so to speak, after already being played heavily in the UK and Japan during ‘03, made it ripe, apparently, to feature as the theme song for the Catwoman trailer. Now, call one “batty,” but it seems like a bit of an ill-omened idea not only to include a song from a rival comic book studio’s movie, but also a song from a rival comic book studio’s movie that was received so poorly. Indeed, Catwoman has a lower approval rating than Madame Web (eight percent to the latter’s twelve).
For an even weirder Britney/Mis-Teeq connection within these universes, Spears’ “Outrageous” was actually slated to be the movie’s theme before the pop star injured her leg while filming the video for it (which had nothing to do with Catwoman, but heavily featured Snoop Dogg). This, for one reason or another, led to Catwoman wielding “Scandalous” instead (which is just another word for “outrageous” anyway). But the only thing “scandalous” about Madame Web is its flagrant disregard for the correct radio airplay timeline. Something that the musical supervisors on the movie perhaps assumed would be the least of the audience’s grievances. And though “Toxic” is a great fit for a story about poison-delivering spider-people, due to this petit faux pas, it’s probably more at home as a string arrangement inPromising Young Woman (you know, the movie Emerald Fennell brought us before her own 00s-era inconsistencies in Saltburn).
Madame Web is here, whether you like it or not, and the movie’s ending does set up a future for the characters in it. Whether or not we will see it come to fruition, as Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson) can, is a completely different story.
**Spoilers for Madame Web. If you want to keep the secrets, don’t scroll on.**
Cassie comes into her powers of clairvoyance and being able to see the future when she’s stuck in a car that crashes into the Hudson River while she’s trying to save someone in her job as a paramedic. Her newfound powers spur Cassie’s determination to figure out why this has happened to her.
Through a series of events, Cassie foresees the brutal death of 3 teenage girls while waiting for a train to leave the station. Determined to save them, she quickly becomes the reluctant guardian of Julia (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie (Celeste O’Connor), and Anya (Isabela Merced). Their would-be murderer, Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), previously worked with Cassie’s mother, trying to find a spider that was rumored to have healing powers and gives “spider people” special abilities.
Ezekiel, in his own visions, has seen Julia, Mattie, and Anya with their own “spider” powers and that they would lead to his death, but in trying to save himself, he died at the hand of Cassie, in her efforts to protect the girls. In a final battle between them, Cassie uses an abandoned fireworks facility under the Pepsi Cola sign in Queens (don’t ask) to her advantage and eventually knocks Ezekiel to his death.
That battle also sends Cassie crashing into the water, and in her fall, she is injured in such a way that the iconic imagery of Madame Web from the comics is brought to life.
Madame Web is here, cool glasses and all
(Marvel Comics)
In the final moments of the movie, it is revealed that Cassie is blind and uses a wheelchair. This is, of course, how many of us know the character. The three girls are still extremely close to Cassie (who says that they’re hers when a nurse asks if they are immediate family during Cassie’s recovery), and we get to see a setup for the future.
Cassie is explaining the spider-powers that Mattie, Julia, and Anya will eventually possess, and we get glimpses of them in their superhero attire, joined with a telepathic version of Cassie in her own suit. This means that eventually they will all be a fun little group of heroes, saving New York together.
We don’t see them get their powers or know when that will happen, but we just leave the movie with the knowledge that it will, eventually, happen for each of them, and that’s all we have—for now.
Isabela Merced was already one of the industry’s most sought-after young actors, and then she went on an unparalleled casting streak that includes the likes of Madame Web, Alien: Romulus, Superman: Legacy and The Last of Us season two. She also has her second John Green adaptation, Turtles All the Way Down, releasing this spring, and it happens to be the performance she’s most proud of to date.
On Feb. 14, Merced returns to the big screen in SJ Clarkson’s Madame Web, as her character, Anya Corazon, is one of three future Spider-Women that Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson) must protect from baddie Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) and his premonition that they’re all responsible for his eventual death. Anya’s Spider-Woman alter ego is named Araña, and due to Cassie’s clairvoyant visions, Merced, along with Johnson, Sydney Sweeney and Celeste O’Connor, had to perform multiple different versions of scenes in order to account for the potential future and reality of each sequence.
Fortunately, Clarkson approached this tangled web with subtlety and efficiency.
“[Clarkson] was very smart about not making us too conscious or aware that it was another version of the same scene,” Merced tells The Hollywood Reporter. “We could just focus on the work and not mimic the same things we did before.”
Last July, just three days before the SAG-AFTRA strike, Merced joined James Gunn’s forthcoming DCU reboot as Hawkgirl in Superman: Legacy, the first film to kick off the revamped cinematic universe. Needless to say, Merced is ecstatic about the entire enterprise, and her screen test with her fellow co-stars gave her a proper sneak peek of what to expect when the superhero pic begins production in March.
“I was directed by [Gunn] during the [screen] test for [Superman: Legacy], because I auditioned for this. I got to do [the screen test] with my other castmates, and that was really cool. It felt very professional; it was almost like a legitimate shooting day,” Merced says. “So I’ve already learned so much about his process, and this man … has the best of the best working for him.”
The Cleveland native also signed onto The Last of Us season two as Dina. She’s another teenage inhabitant of Maria (Rutina Wesley) and Tommy Miller’s (Gabriel Luna) Jackson, Wyoming community, and she soon becomes close with Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Once Merced heard that series co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann were interested in meeting with her, she binge-played The Last of Us Part II in record time to be thoroughly prepared.
“I had already watched the show, and so I went to my friend’s house and I played [The Last of Us Part II] all in one weekend on the PS5. It was amazing. It did 25 hours of gameplay,” Merced shares. “It was wild, but so much fun. So I really liked the second game, but I haven’t played the first game yet.”
Merced is also starring alongside Cailee Spaeny in Fede Álvarez’s upcoming Alien: Romulus, which takes place between Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). During a recent round of reshoots, Merced and some nearby cast/crew got to watch a significant chunk of the film on Álvarez’s iPad, and one scene in particular prompted everyone but Merced to look away in horror.
“There’s a scene that I’m in, and they all had to turn away. Not one person stayed looking at that iPad because it was so disgusting,” Merced reveals. “And I was watching it like this … (Merced pretends to hold an iPad with a mesmerized look on her face.) I was so excited.”
Merced also starred in 2018’s Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and with Sicario 3 currently gaining steam, she would “absolutely” love to reprise her role as Isabel Reyes, even if it’s just for one scene with Benicio Del Toro. Soldado ends with Isabel thinking Del Toro’s Alejandro Gillick has been shot to death, before eventually being whisked away to Witness Protection by Josh Brolin’s Matt Graver.
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Merced also discusses the first time she bonded with her Madame Web co-stars, as well as the pros and cons of her Araña costume.
So there’s usually a point where co-stars first bond with each other. Fight scenes are a common answer. Was dancing to Britney Spears’ “Toxic” on top of a diner table that moment for the three of you (Merced, Sweeney, O’Connor) on Madame Web?
(Laughs.) The first moment of bonding was two weeks into it. It was my birthday, so I invited everybody [to a party]. I didn’t really expect them all to come. I don’t like to make a big deal on my birthday. I don’t really like my own birthday. I love other people’s birthdays, though. But they all showed up and it was amazing. There was an accordion player who my mom first saw on the street. There was brunch, but they also brought snacks, treats, cookies, everything. So [my co-stars] didn’t have to be there, but they showed up for me and I thought that was really sweet.
Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor), Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney) in Columbia Pictures’ Madame Web.
Sony Pictures
My second wrong guess would’ve been everyone’s first day in Spider costumes. How’d your Araña costume treat you?
Oh, it was like a glove. Honestly, it fit every curve of my body, perfectly. So it was quite comfortable. But when you put the harness on, you then put layers underneath it to protect your skin from the harness and then [more layers] over the harness to smooth it out. So that’s when it gets really tight. You train all these months for certain actions and moves that you’ve prepared, but once you put on the costume and the harness, it’s suddenly like trying to run underwater. So it’s quite hard to do the same things in the costume and harness.
For what it’s worth, I hear that bird-related superhero costumes are much more comfortable.
(Laughs.) You know what? From my experience with that production, it has been …
The three of you received a CPR lesson from Dakota Johnson’s character in a seedy motel room. If there was an emergency situation, would you trust yourself to deploy it?
Absolutely not! I can hold a beat. I can hold a rhythm. (Merced proceeds to sing the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” as CPR classes recommend performing chest compressions to the song’s tempo.) But I can’t guarantee that that person will be staying alive. Yeah, no promises there. (Laughs.) Don’t call on me, please.
You had to shoot the potential future that Cassie (Johnson) glimpses, but then you also had to shoot what actually happens due to her interference. Did things get pretty complicated on the day as you filmed multiple versions of many different scenes?
I will give credit to SJ Clarkson, the director. In the train sequence where we all get murdered for the fourth time or something, there were variations. Once we got up to the part where [Anya] is picked up and thrown, we had to do about three variations before that. So SJ would give very subtle notes and act like it’s still the same scene, but it was really another version of the same scene. Again, she was very subtle about it. So once we finished, I was like, “Oh, did we get it?” And she was like, “Yeah, we got four different versions. I’m going to edit it together later.” So she was very smart about not making us too conscious or aware that it was another version of the same scene. We could just focus on the work and not mimic the same things we did before.
You told me a few years ago that you hoped to avoid more sassy, angsty teenagers if at all possible, but Anya has a very good reason for being that way at first. Her immigration-related backstory is quite heartbreaking, and I couldn’t help but think about it through today’s lens. Did her backstory hit you pretty hard as well?
Yeah, the whole sassy, angsty teen thing, I probably said that I didn’t like it because I was that sort of character in real life at the time. I’m only 22 now, but I understand it more as I get older. I look back at my journal entries from when I was that age and I get it. The world seems so much scarier. You feel so much more vulnerable and self-conscious, and that’s what I love about understanding Anya. Yes, you have the surface-level facts about her life that are quite saddening and you can imagine she feels isolated, but then you peel it back further to the immigrant mentality. She is smart, but that’s because she has to be. She is independent, but that’s because she has to be. It doesn’t mean she wants to be. So I loved getting to know the softer side of her and taking it to something that’s more than just a sassy, angsty teen.
Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney) and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) in Columbia Pictures’ Madame Web
Sony Pictures
You’re half-Peruvian, and similar to Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Peru is a key part of this story as well. Your character even says the name of the country when Cassie tells everyone that she has to go there. Did they rewrite that scene just so you could have that meta reference to your own ancestry?
I wish I knew the answer to that question so I could give you a solid answer. I think it’s the law of attraction, honestly. I also wish I had that much control that I could be like, “Oh, it says Peru? I’m going to be in that movie.” So I think it’s just the law of attraction, but I love Peru. Apparently, I’m attracting projects that mention it, but that was an added line: “You have to go to Peru.” That was something they just added in there on the day, but I don’t think SJ was thinking that much about it. When you’re directing something, you’re just so invested in the story that you’re not aware of these things. So it’s just a really cool thing that I hope keeps happening. I even have some projects in mind that are centered in Peru, so I hope that I get to produce them at some point.
You’ve worked with the Wahlberg family a few times, and given that you shot Madame Web in Boston, did Mark offer you a list of dinner recs and all that?
I got a list from him a long time ago, and I actually referred to that list, but some of the restaurants were closed down because of the pandemic. I got the list before the pandemic. But I didn’t reach out to him. I don’t really reach out. I’m a terrible friend. I’m also a terrible daughter, especially when I’m working. I’m great when I’m not working, but when I’m working, I’m bad at keeping in touch with people. I just get so invested in my own head.
Benicio Del Toro and Isabela Merced in Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Richard Foreman, Jr.
So how was your Sicario: Day of the Soldado reunion with Benicio Del Toro not too long ago?
Oh, it was lovely. I love that man. I gave him the biggest hug and he was so sweet to me. He’s always been really sweet to me, and I admire him so much. I was just happy to see that he’s doing well.
We’ve talked before about Soldado and Josh Brolin’s tears …
(Laughs.)
As much as I love that movie, I’ve always wished that Benicio’s character reunited with your character at the very end just to relieve some of the trauma she’d endured. However, it’s still possible as Sicario 3 is gaining momentum. I know you’re busy these days, but is that a phone call you’d like to receive, even if it’s just one reunion scene?
Absolutely. I would be very open to that. We spoke about it, and obviously things change, but I think we spoke about Isabel Reyes going into the Witness Protection Program. [Writer’s Note: Brolin’s character defied his own orders and took Reyes to the U.S. to place her in WITSEC.] So I don’t know how she would be involved in another Sicario storyline unless they went out of their way to make that happen, but of course, I would love to be a part of [Sicario 3]. Soldado is still, to date, one of my favorite movies I’ve ever done, and it was one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had. It was insane.
Well, I referenced it earlier, but belated congratulations on being employed by James Gunn.
Yeah, it’s awesome! (Laughs.)
You once said that you respond the most to roles that bring out a new side of yourself, and James has always been highly skilled at doing that for his actors. So is Hawkgirl going to potentially show a new side of you?
James Gunn is so creative and he has such a unique style, and whatever he touches, he always adds his own flair to it. And for that reason, I’m very excited. I was directed by him during the [screen] test for this, because I auditioned for this. I got to do [the screen test] with my other castmates, and that was really cool. It felt very professional; it was almost like a legitimate shooting day. So I’ve already learned so much about his process, and this man has such a solid team. He has the best of the best working for him, and they’ve worked together for so long that it’s only up to me to mess it up. So I hope that I can understand and take notes and continue training and just be healthy throughout it all. Then I’ll be able to give the fans the performance they deserve.
(L-R) Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced attend ELLE’s 2023 Women in Hollywood Celebration on Dec. 5.
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
It’s fitting that you also joined The Last of Us, because you and Pedro Pascal are both landing every role there is to land in this town. Have you been preparing for Dina and Hawkgirl at the same time, basically?
Absolutely. I’m also working on a script that I’m trying to write, and I have to promote Turtles All the Way Down, which is coming out in the spring. But I’m so excited to meet Pedro. I met Bella Ramsey and [co-creator] Craig Mazin already. I met basically the whole Last of Us team, except for Pedro. I know Kaitlyn [Dever] from Rosaline, but I saw her in Vancouver recently. So I think this is going to be a really wonderful experience. They won all those Emmys for a reason, and it’s a really well-run, well-oiled machine. Craig is just a genius, and I really admire him for the short time I’ve known him.
Have you been playing the Last of Us Part II game on the TV that Adria Arjona gave you?
(Laughs.) Okay, I have a few things to say about that. Adria is one of the most giving people I’ve ever met. This woman gives her things away like it’s nothing, and it’s such a good quality to have. I would love to have that quality, because she doesn’t give too much importance to things. She values what’s actually valuable. So I needed a TV, because I had just bought a new apartment, and she ended up giving me her TV that she didn’t need. It’s massive. It’s such a nice TV, and it’s in my living room right now.
But TheLast of Us prep has not been done in my house. I was in a relationship where my ex had a console, and I would play video games until 4:00 am every night. So I have a very unhealthy obsession with video games, and I told myself I wouldn’t get a PS5. But when I heard this ominous call about how the [Last of Us] creators wanted to meet with me, I was like, “Okay, I have to play the game first.” I had already watched the show, and so I went to my friend’s house and I played it all in one weekend on the PS5. It was amazing. It did 25 hours of gameplay. It was wild, but so much fun. So I really liked the second game, but I haven’t played the first game yet. Only the second.
Your list of conquests continues with Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus later this summer. Is it basically a two-hander between you and Cailee Spaeny?
It ends up being a little bit complicated, obviously, as all Alien movies do, however, yeah, you’ll see us together at times. When we were doing reshoots, Fede Álvarez gave me the iPad where he watches playback, and he had the movie pulled up. So I told him I wanted to see parts of it, and he showed it to me. I was the one holding the iPad, and there were ten people around me watching it on the iPad. So there’s a scene that I’m in, and they all had to turn away. Not one person stayed looking at that iPad because it was so disgusting. And I was watching it like this … (Merced pretends to hold an iPad with a mesmerized look on her face.) I was so excited. (Laughs.) I love sci-fi, I do. So he let me watch half the movie on the iPad. I said [to Fede], “If the iPad is heavy, I can carry it for you. I can hold it.” (Laughs.) So I’m really, really excited for that one. Again, I’m lucky enough to be a part of these projects with the best of the best. I can’t believe it. I’m so in shock, and I don’t know when I’m going to wake up.
Lastly, you touched on it earlier, but your second John Green adaptation, Turtles All the Way Down, releases this spring. I was shocked to read this, but was that really the first time you were proud of your acting? Or were you just exaggerating?
I actually don’t think I was. To be honest, there’s a lot of components about movies that are out of your control. For example, you do 45 takes of something, and it’s edited together in a certain way where you’re like, “I don’t think these moods match from one line to the other. I don’t think there was a proper escalation.” So it could be things like that, and when I watch my movies for the first time, I do find myself grabbing onto my seat and clenching my jaw. So I do have a hard time watching myself, but Turtles All the Way Down, I don’t know if it’s personal growth or working on my self-worth, but I didn’t clench up at all while watching it. I felt at ease watching it, and maybe that’s because I knew how much work I put into it and how I felt after each shooting day. So I do feel really proud of myself for that.
Dakota Johnson put a lot of trust in director SJ Clarkson while filming “Madame Web.” The actor, who stars as Cassandra Webb in the upcoming superhero thriller set in Sony’s “Spider-Man” universe, reflected on her experience working with a blue screen for CGI effects.
“I’ve never really done a movie where you are on a blue screen, and there’s fake explosions going off, and someone’s going, ‘Explosion!’ and you act like there’s an explosion,” Johnson said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “That to me was absolutely psychotic. I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to be good at all! I hope that I did an OK job!’”
She continued, “But I trusted [Clarkson]. She works so hard, and she has not taken her eyes off this movie since we started.”
Clarkson reached out to Johnson about the superhero film in 2021, shortly after the actor had finished filming “The Lost Daughter.” Johnson admitted she was hesitant at first about the role: “I got sent this script, and I was like, ‘I don’t know about me being a superhero.’”
But she was intrigued by Cassandra, saying, “I was sort of mystified by her powers. I felt like, ‘Oh, I really would love to see that superhero. I would love to see a young woman whose superpower is her mind.’”
Johnson also recalled the stunts she had to perform for “Madame Web,” particularly a “day of stunt driving work.”
“I’m really good at it, it seems!” Johnson said. “I mean, I can do some really wild things with a car. I drove an ambulance. I drove a taxicab. I drove everything in the movie — except for flying through the air and out of a building. But other than that, I’m like, ‘Watch out, Tom Cruise.’”
2023 was a great year for movies, but we’ve spent enough time talking about 2023. We’re done with her. It’s time to think about 2024 and all the new movies we can’t wait to see.
The new year is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. For cinephiles, it’s a brief period of optimism; a chance to really mean it when we say we’ll keep up with new movie releases. And I do mean it, just like I mean it every year. Following the WGA and SAG strikes of 2023, the trades are predicting fewer new movie releases, which may very well be true. But there are still plenty of new movies hitting theaters this year for us to get worked up over—even if the year looks a little front-loaded at the moment.
Mean Girls (January 12)
(Paramount)
Despite not being marketed as such, Mean Girls is indeed a musical. Based on the Broadway production, which in turn is based on the 2003 comedy (which was based on a book!), Mean Girls features Renee Rapp reprising her stage role as Regina George alongside returning star and screenwriter Tina Fey. The new ensemble also includes Angourie Rice, Avantika Vandanapu, Bebe Wood, and Ashley Park. –Britt Hayes
The Book of Clarence (January 12)
(Sony Pictures Releasing)
LaKeith Stanfield actually has two movies hitting theaters on January 12: action-thriller The Beekeeper, co-starring Jason Statham, and The Book of Clarence. We’re a little more stoked for the latter, a biblical-era dramedy and the second film from Jeymes Samuel (a.k.a. British singer-songwriter The Bullitts). Stanfield plays the titular role, a man struggling to make ends meet for his family when he decides to follow in Jesus’ footsteps—at first as a scheme, but we know how these things turn out. –BH
The Kitchen (January 19)
(Netflix)
We all want to know what a Barney movie directed by Daniel Kaluuya will look like, and The Kitchen might give us something of an idea. Kaluuya makes his feature directing debut alongside Kibwe Tavares with this dystopian sci-fi set in a version of London where social housing is eliminated. Starring Jedaiah Bannerman, Kano, and Hope Ikpoku, The Kitchen looks like a real conversation starter. –BH
Miller’s Girl (January 26)
(Lionsgate)
Another one sure to get people talking is Miller’s Girl, an indie thriller that evokes the erotic thrillers and dramas of the ‘90s. Jenna Ortega stars as a college student who becomes intimately involved with her professor (Martin Freeman) during a creative writing assignment. After last year’s Fair Play, we’re eager to see another movie that navigates the complexities of gendered power dynamics. This one comes to us from first-time feature filmmaker Jade Bartlett, and gives Ortega a chance to explore her range. –BH
Argylle (February 2)
(Universal Pictures)
What is Argylle? No one knows. We’ve seen trailers for it. Maybe. We know it stars Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dua Lipa. And also there’s a cat? Matthew Vaughn’s latest is, according the synopsis, about a novelist (Howard) whose books about a dashing spy (Cavill) begin resembling the actual doings of a real spy organization. It sounds a little like Le Magnifique, the wacky 1973 French film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. –BH
Lisa Frankenstein (February 9)
(Focus Features)
It’s written by Diablo Cody. It’s the feature directorial debut of Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Robin). It stars Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse. It’s a Frankenstein riff set in the ‘80s. It’s called LISA FRANKENSTEIN for crying out loud. What more could you possibly need here? –BH
Madame Web (February 14)
(Sony Pictures)
We’ll finally get to see what happened when he was in the Amazon with her mom when she was researching spiders, right before she died! Madame Web is Sony’s latest attempt to expand its Spider-Man universe, this time with actual Spidey-people instead of villains and antiheroes people may or may not care about. (That said, I am so down for Venom 3 and the return of The Brock Report.) Starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Isabela Merced, Madame Web is a Valentine’s Day movie, apparently, because girls? –BH
Drive-Away Dolls (February 23)
(Focus Features)
The first solo effort from Ethan Coen (of the Coen Brothers), Drive-Away Dollsis an exciting film for a number of reasons. One, we’re getting Pedro Pascal in a Coen movie, but we’re also seeing a female-centric story from the filmmaker. Centered on Jamie (Margaret Qualley) as she goes through a break-up and her friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), who’s helping her through it, the trailers make Drive-Away Dolls look like a return to the Coen antics we’ve come to love over the years. Getting to see Ethan Coen shine on his own (as Joel Coen has already done) is exciting! –Rachel Leishman
Dune: Part Two (March 1)
(Warner Bros.)
While I was tempted to mount a Jan. 6 on Warner Bros. to liberate Dune: Part Two from the vault (no jury would convict me), I’m glad I decided to remain a free woman so that I can see Denis Villeneuve’s epic sequel in a movie the-a-ter. Timothée Chalamet, fresh off Wonka, returns as ostensible chosen one Paul Atreides, leading the Fremen (including love interest Chani, played by Zendaya) in a revolt against the corrupt forces of the galaxy. –BH
Love Lies Bleeding (March 8)
(A24)
Rose Glass’ follow-up to the haunting Saint Maud is Love Lies Bleeding, a romantic thriller starring Kristen Stewart as Lou, a gym owner who gets it bad for bodybuilder Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian). Come for the lesbian crime thriller that’s giving off Bound vibes, stay for scary Ed Harris with a skullet. –BH
Imaginary (March 8)
(Lionsgate)
Last January, Blumhouse introduced us to M3GAN, who briefly became the Mariah Carey of horror. This year, Blumhouse seems to be hitting the same sweet spot (or trying to) with Imaginary. DeWanda Wise plays a woman who returns to her childhood home to discover that her imaginary friend is so pissed at her for moving away and growing up that it possesses the body of a teddy bear to get revenge. Sounds wild, let’s go. –BH
The American Society of Magical Negroes (March 22)
(Focus Features)
Actor and comedian Kobi Libii makes his directing debut with The American Society of Magical Negroes, which imagines a world in which the tired racist trope is crucial to the functioning of society. Justice Smith stars as a young man recruited by the eponymous society, comprised of Black people with magical abilities, each assigned to help a white person navigate life. Co-starring David Alan Grier, Aisha Hinds, Rupert Friend, and Nicole Byer, The American Society of Magical Negroes looks hilarious and maybe a little sweet, too? –BH
Mickey 17 (March 29)
(Warner Bros.)
Three years after sweeping the Oscars with Parasite, Bong Joon-ho is finally back, and this time he’s returning to the science fiction genre. Based on a novel by Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 is set in the future, and stars Robert Pattinson as a worker clone sent on a mission to help colonize the ice world Niflheim. Not that you should need more reasons to watch after that description, but Director Bong’s latest co-stars Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Steven Yeun. –BH
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 12)
(Warner Bros.)
Legendary’s MonsterVerse gets a little bigger with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which brings back director Adam Wingard for the ultimate showdown. Two titans enter the ring (which is our planet, btw) and duke it out for … actually, I don’t really know why they’re fighting. This seems like an intersectional situation where they need to realize that people have been pitting them against each other and that they should just team up and kill us already. –BH
Civil War (April 26)
(A24)
Alex Garland is best known for dark, genre-bending sci-fi (Annihilation, Ex Machina) and horror (28 Days Later, Men), which makes his latest film something of a curiosity. Civil War is set in an imminent future in which the United States has dissolved into warring political factions, and follows the journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) covering the conflict. Civil War might be Garland’s most ambitious film in more than one aspect; his work, while relatively grounded, doesn’t typically deal in current events. It also reunites the filmmaker with Devs stars Nick Offerman, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, and co-stars Wagner Moura and Jesse Plemons. –BH
Challengers (April 26)
(Amazon MGM Studios)
The minute we learned what Challengers is about, we were hooked. A movie in which Zendaya is married to Mike Faist but also sort of being in a throuple with Josh O’Connor? We’re in. Yes, there is tennis involved, but okay, whatever. The new Luca Guadagnino film was written by Justin Kuritzkes, the partner of Celine Song (who wrote and directed Past Lives, leading plenty of people to make comparisons to their relationship). There are just a lot of things going on with Challengersthat make it exciting, and we’ve been hyped about it since last summer! –RL
The Fall Guy (May 3)
(Universal Pictures)
What is better than Ryan Gosling behind the wheel of a car? Ryan Gosling as a stuntman—yes, again, but this time it’s funny. The Fall Guyis giving “What if Drive was sort of light-hearted and maybe a bit like The Nice Guys?” and I’m not exactly mad about it. Starring Gosling and Emily Blunt, we can just pretend like this is another Barbenheimer right? Written by Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3, Hotel Artemis), directed by David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), and sort of based on the TV series of the same name, The Fall Guy has me stoked to see Ryan Gosling in a car again. –RL
Back to Black (May 10)
(Focus Features)
Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, with a soulful voice and indelible songwriting to match. Her life and her career were far too brief, cut short by painful struggles with addiction and an eating disorder, which exacerbated the pressures of fame and the demands of her work. Some of this was explored in the documentary Amy, which drew the ire of the late singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who felt he was unfairly represented. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Back to Black stars Industry‘s Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse, whose estate cooperated with the production. While that means we’ll get to hear Winehouse’s music in the film, there’s a chance it might not dig as deep as some of her fans would like. All the same, Abela is fiercely talented and definitely looks the part, Taylor-Johnson is a fine director, and as a Winehouse fan, I’m eager to see how Back to Black shakes out. –BH
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 24)
(Warner Bros.)
George Miller’s long-developing Fury Road follow-up is finally upon us. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (that title couldn’t be more studio-mandated if it tried) features Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role and explores her life before Max—when a younger Furiosa was taken from the Green Place of Many Mothers by the sinister Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) to the Citadel, where she begins plotting her liberation. As far as I’m concerned, George Miller can do whatever the hell he wants. If Furiosa is half as good as Fury Road, we should count ourselves lucky. –BH
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 24)
(20th Century Studios)
In the tradition of the classic Planet of the Apes films, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes centers on a new main character, Noa (Owen Teague), a chimpanzee disillusioned by the apes’ corrupt leader, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) and his oppression of other apes. Set 300 years after the events in Rise, Dawn, and War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom is directed by Wes Ball (the Maze Runner series), and seems to be good enough to land him a gig directing the live-action Legend of Zelda movie for Nintendo. –BH
Ballerina (June 7)
(Lionsgate)
I’m absolutely torn on Ballerina. On the one hand, John Wick is an incredible franchise and Ana de Armas is inarguably talented and fun to watch. On the other hand, Ballerina—potentially the first in a series of John Wick spinoff movies—was directed by Len Wiseman, a guy with an underwhelming track record (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard, Total Recall remake) that does not gel with the dynamic action of the Wick movies. THAT SAID: the ballerina assassin lore teased in the third Wick movie was like catnip to me, and if this thing is good, we might have a solid substitute for the Black Widow movie we should’ve gotten. –BH
The Watchers (June 7)
(Head of Zeus)
We’re getting two Shyamalan movies this year. Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night, is making her feature directing debut with The Watchers, based on the novel by A.M. Shine. Starring Dakota Fanning and Georgina Campbell, the horror film centers on an artist who gets stuck in a cabin in an Irish forest with three strangers and must contend with the mysterious creatures that stalk them each night. –BH
Inside Out 2 (June 14)
(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Remember when a bunch of adults cried in a movie theater over Inside Out? Well, now we can do that again with Inside Out 2! Pixar is back with Riley and all the emotions in her head and this time, she’s got a new one: Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke)! As someone who very much wishes I had Inside Out when I was growing up, I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store for Riley and how I will embarrass myself again in a theater, sobbing over a movie for children. –RL
Twisters (July 19)
(Warner Bros.)
What’s better than the 1996 film Twister? A sequel with Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos. The original film starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as part of a crew of scientists and storm chasers working together to launch Dorothy (a data-gathering device). What we’re getting with Twisters is a direct sequel to the film, and look, great. I don’t care what happens, it’s a sequel to Twister. We’re so in. –RL
Deadpool 3 (July 26)
(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Logan (Hugh Jackman) dealing with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is how our love of Reynolds as Deadpool began, so we are very excited for Deadpool 3. Any time there is a new Deadpool movie, we’re gifted with whatever nonsense Ryan Reynolds is up to, and we’ve been getting a whole bunch of treats because he is truly on one with this movie. Still, it’s just fun to know that Wade and Logan are back in action, and we can’t wait to see what director Shawn Levy and Co. have in store for us, especially now that Deadpool belongs to Disney. –RL
Trap (August 2)
(Carlos Alvarez, Getty Images)
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest co-stars his other daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, alongside Josh Hartnett and Hayley Mills (yes, of The Parent Trap fame). We know pretty much nothing about Trap, which isn’t likely to change until we see a trailer in the next few months. Speaking with NME, Shyamalan described it as “very unusual and very new compared to what I’ve been trying to do (recently).” The filmmaker has been on one heck of a run since returning with The Visit, and I can’t wait to see whatever the hell he’s up to with Trap. –BH
Alien: Romulus (August 16)
(20th Century Studios)
The latest installment in the Alien franchise comes from Fede Álvarez, the filmmaker behind Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe, and stars Cailee Spaeny and Isabela Merced. Spaeny recently revealed that Alien: Romulus is set between Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Will Álvarez’s film bridge the differences between the two, sort of like Doctor Sleep did with the Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick versions of The Shining? That’s my only hope. Well, that, and more practical xenomorphs. –BH
Kraven the Hunter (August 30)
(Sony Pictures)
Am I the one person in this world determined to love and support Kraven the Hunterno matter what? Yes. That’s okay. Directed by J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier), Kraven promises to bring to life one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes: Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Famously, Kraven loves animals but also is a hunter (hence the name). How that is going to work without Spider-Man will be interesting, but I am just so excited to see my boy in live action that I don’t even care! Kraven is coming! –RL
Beetlejuice 2 (September 6)
(Warner Bros.)
We don’t need to relitigate the ups and downs of Tim Burton’s career, but suffice it to say, the visionary director has a little something to prove with Beetlejuice 2. But with Michael Keaton back as the ghost with the most and Winona Ryder reprising her role as Lydia Deetz (every goth girl’s platonic ideal) alongside Jenna Ortega, I’m optimistic for what this sequel could be. –BH
Saw XI (September 27)
(Lionsgate)
It’s wild that it took seven films for the Saw franchise to figure out how to course-correct the grievous error of killing off its main antagonist in the third film. Saw X was such a damn good time that I am fully back on the Saw hype train. Saw XI was almost immediately greenlit, and I can’t wait to see what silly prequel-sidequel-inbetweenquel nonsense is in store. –BH
Joker: Folie à Deux (October 4)
(Warner Bros.)
If you told us that we’d be excited about Joker: Folie à Deux after so many of us didn’t like the first Joker movie, I wouldn’t believe you. And yet I truly cannot wait to see Joker: Folie à Deux. I’m going to blame the Harley Quinn-and-Joker of it all. Todd Phillips’ sequel to Joker features Lady Gaga as Harley and is said to be a musical—all elements that make me increasingly more excited about this. –RL
Venom 3 (November 8)
(Sony Pictures)
I have but one request for Venom 3: Bring back The Brock Report. We need to see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock back in VICE reporter mode, maybe with a little help from his sidekick and number one tater tot fan Venom. Venom 2 was a surprising success that managed to overcome the clownery of the first film’s post-credits teaser and deliver a superior sequel. With Venom 2 screenwriter Kelly Marcel back on board and also sitting in the director’s chair, we’re sure to get a little more of that goofy, gloopy magic. –BH
Gladiator 2 (November 22)
(Universal Pictures)
Ridley Scott is on a roll. The 86-year-old filmmaker is following up 2023’s Napoleon with another historical epic—a sequel to his own Gladiator, released in 2000. This time, Scott’s courting the fan girls with Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Denzel Washington, and Fred Hechinger. Just make a wall calendar, why don’t you! –BH
Wicked Part One (November 27)
(Universal Stage Production)
Wickedis being split into two parts, which means Part One will (probably) end with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) singing “Defying Gravity” and leaving us gooped. So why are we excited? Because it is Wicked. For the record, Wicked does rule even if I do think it is an overrated musical. But with Jon M. Chu at the helm and a cast that includes Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, and Bowen Yang, I can’t help but look forward to this one. –RL
Nosferatu (December 25)
(Focus Features)
The big holiday treat this year is Nosferatu, a new iteration of F.W. Murnau’s silent horror classic from Robert Eggers, the filmmaker behind The Witch and The Northman. Eggers’ retelling is set in 19th-century Germany and follows a young woman tormented by the ghastly vampire who is obsessed with her (relatable). Nosferatu stars Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe (but of course), Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin, and Bill Skarsgard as—who else?—the vampire Count Orlok. –BH
(featured image: TriStar Pictures / Warner Bros. / Focus Features / A24)
S. J. Clarkson’s feature is set to hit theaters Feb. 14, 2024, just in time for Valentine’s Day dates. Dakota Johnson stars in the titular role based on the Marvel comic book character named Cassandra Webb, who is a clairvoyant mutant and can foresee the future for Spider-themed heroes. Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott, Mike Epps, Celeste O’Connor and Isabela Merced round out the cast.
Clarkson (Anatomy of a Scandal) directed the film from a script by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama. Lorenzo di Bonaventura serves as producer, and Adam Merims executive produces.
Other Spider-Man offshoots on the horizon for Sony include Aaron Taylor-Johnson leading Kraven the Hunter, which hits theaters in August 2024, while the third film in the Tom Hardy-starring Venom franchise is set for November of next year. Last year, the studio released Morbius, which featured Jared Leto, Matt Smith and Adria Arjona as the Marvel Comics characters.
During a previous interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sweeney teased her role in Madame Web by saying that she “liked the personal struggles that the character goes through.” In a different conversation with THR, the Emmy-nominated actress called working on Madame Web “an absolute career highlight.”
Johnson broke out in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, and her more recent film titles include Bad Times at the El Royale, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Persuasion. Sweeney is known for television series including Euphoria and The White Lotus, in addition to such film work as Reality and the forthcoming Sony rom-com Anyone But You.
