Summary
Deadpool & Wolverineis one of Marvel Studios' most successful movies. The comedic, fourth-wall-breaking film proved to be a significant hit at the box office and with critics.Having grossed over $1 billion worldwide, this movie had everyone talking, whether they were fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or not, as it pushed beyond the fandom and into pop culture generally.
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds delivered exceptional performances, and the film featured no shortage of fun cameos to entertain the masses. That led to high expectations forDeadpool & Wolverinewhen it was released on Disney Plus, and while it did perform well in terms of streaming numbers, it was beaten by a very surprising flop.
Madame Webfeatures an impressive cast with Sydney Sweeney, Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott, Isabel Merced, and Emma Roberts, all starring in a film with potential on paper. However,it only made $100 million worldwide, while it went on to receive three Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Johnson), and Worst Screenplay,as thefilm struggled to gain any positivity. It ended up being a major flop for Sony and was a contributing factor in the decision to halt making Spider-verse movies anymore. Outside of the Venom films, none of them performed particularly well, which was primarily due to the lack of Spider-Man, but the fact that none of the movies were gaining any interest wasn’t a good sign.
However,Madam Web’sNetflix numbers prove that there is at least an audience that is curious enough to check it out from the comfort of their own homes. Whether this was due to people being pulled in by the bad reviews and wanting to have fun at its expense or simply judging it for themselves,Madam Webhas ended up being a win for Netflixand will provide some positivity for those who were involved in the project. It’s not the first time that a movie has ended up finding more success away from the theatres, and it certainly won’t be the last.
Whether this ends up helping Sony to green-light more Spider-verse movies will remain to be seen, but it is a rare win over Marvel Studios, which is something that those in the company will certainly take. While few would say thatMadam Webis the superior moviebetween the two, the fact that more people wanted to watch it thanDeadpool & Wolverineis a telling sign of how people’s viewing habits can be vastly different from what people might first expect on paper.
