Dakota Johnson didn't have to be a clairvoyant to foresee the failure of "Madame Web."
The "Fifty Shades of Grey" star, 34, opened up in an interview with Bustle about the superhero movie, which she headlined in February, receiving horrible reviews from critics and disappointing at the box office.
"Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that this has gone down the way it has," she said.
Johnson explained that on big movies like "Madame Web," and even sometimes on smaller films, "decisions are being made by committees," and "art does not do well" under those circumstances. "Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them," she said. "My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they're not."
Johnson starred as the title character opposite Sydney Sweeney in the Sony comic book film, which was based on Spider-Man characters but set in a world separate from Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. It received some of the worst reviews for a modern superhero movie, with USA TODAY critic Brian Truitt writing that "Madame Web" was "burdened by bad dialogue, negligible character development, a lackluster bad guy and assorted B-movie silliness."
The film has only grossed about $40 million at the domestic box office after almost a month in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. For comparison, Sony's "Morbius," which was widely considered a failure, grossed $39 million domestically just in its opening weekend in 2022.
'Madame Web' review:Dakota Johnson headlines the worst superhero movie since 'Morbius'
In the Bustle interview, Johnson said "it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie," adding that she "probably will never do anything like it again because I don't make sense in that world. And I know that now."
She also reflected that "sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it's one thing and then as you're making it, it becomes a completely different thing." So while "it's not nice to be a part of something that's ripped to shreds," she "can't say that I don't understand."
Dakota Johnsontalks 'Madame Web' and why her famous parents would make decent superheroes
Elsewhere in the interview, Johnson talked about her relationship with her partner, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, 47. Martin was previously married to Gwyneth Paltrow, with whom he shares two children: Apple, 19, and Moses, 17.
At one point in the conversation, the actress referred to "my stepson," leading Bustle to ask if she likes being a stepmom. "I love those kids like my life depends on it," she said. "With all my heart." She described them as "extraordinarily talented people" and noted that chosen family can be "equally as important, if not more" than the family you're born with.
Paltrow, who married Brad Falchuk in 2018 after her divorce from Martin, previously discussed her relationship with Johnson in a 2020 interview with Harper's Bazaar.
"I love her," Paltrow said. "I can see how it would seem weird because it's sort of unconventional. But I think, in this case, just having passed through it iteratively, I just adore her."
