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Emma Roberts, who played Mary Parker in Madame Web, said in July 2024 that internet culture and a habit of turning movies into punchlines likely changed how the film was received. She called that a source of disappointment for her. It is Roberts’s own interpretation, not a demonstrated explanation for the film’s commercial performance, and the reporting around her comments points to several other factors that were never tested against it.
What Roberts actually said
Roberts’s remarks were reported by Entertainment Tonight on July 5, 2024 and by Forbes on July 6, 2024. In the quote most outlets used, she said:
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“If it wasn’t for internet culture and everything being made into a joke, I think that the reception would’ve been different. And that’s what bums me out about a lot of stuff, even stuff that I’ve done, is people just make such a joke out of everything now.”
The phrase “that’s what bums me out” refers to the broader habit she describes, not to a specific review or meme. She places her own work in the same category as other films that are mocked online, which is the part of the comment that gives the headline its edge.
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#1 Best Overall
- Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures...if they can all survive a deadly present.
Roberts also framed the outcome as hard to predict. In comments reported as coming from an interview with Variety, she said that people claim to know whether a project will work, but “you can’t,” adding that “things do badly and then they blow up later on TikTok.” That second remark is a general observation about the industry, not a comment specific to Madame Web, and it cuts against the idea that any single cause can be named with confidence.
Context: a Sony film, not an MCU entry
Madame Web is a Sony Pictures release based on a Marvel Comics character. It is separate from Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, so the “Marvel star” in the headline refers to a performer in a Marvel-derived film rather than an MCU project. Dakota Johnson played Cassandra “Cassie” Webb, and the film opened theatrically in February 2024.
Roberts made her comments months after that release, which means she was reflecting on a finished box-office run and its online afterlife rather than describing audience behavior as it happened.
Rank #2
- Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures...if they can all survive a deadly present.
The box-office figures and what they do not show
Forbes reported the film’s theatrical totals while citing The Numbers, so the figures below are third-hand estimates, not audited studio financials. They describe 2024 reporting and should be read as a snapshot of that period.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches| Measure | Reported amount | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic theatrical gross | $43.8 million | The Numbers, as cited by Forbes (Forbes, July 6, 2024) |
| International theatrical gross | $56.4 million | The Numbers, as cited by Forbes, 2024 reporting |
| Worldwide theatrical gross | $102.2 million | The Numbers, as cited by Forbes, 2024 reporting |
| Production budget | $80 million | The Numbers, as cited by Forbes; excludes prints and advertising |
The domestic and international figures as reported add up to $100.2 million, about $2 million short of the $102.2 million worldwide total. The reporting does not explain the gap, so readers should treat the individual figures as approximate.
Two points matter for reading these numbers. First, gross is not profit: box-office receipts go to theaters and distributors before any return to the studio, and the $80 million production budget does not include the cost of prints and advertising. Second, the totals show what the film earned, not whether it was a success relative to its full cost. Nothing in the reported figures establishes how internet commentary affected ticket sales.
Rank #3
- Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures...if they can all survive a deadly present.
Critical and audience scores
Review aggregator scores were reported at two different times, and the two snapshots should not be combined.
| Source and date | Critics score | Audience score |
|---|---|---|
| Forbes, July 6, 2024 (article) | 11%, based on 259 reviews | 57%, based on more than 1,000 ratings |
| Entertainment Tonight, July 5, 2024 (article) | 12% | 57% |
These numbers are dated captures. Aggregator scores move as reviews are added or revised, so they describe the film as of mid-2024 and are not a current rating.
Life after the theater
Forbes also reported that Madame Web drew 10.8 million Netflix views and 20.8 million viewing hours in the week it debuted on the service in May 2024. Those are historical streaming figures. They show that the film found an audience after its theatrical run, but they do not establish current availability on any platform, so check your streaming service for the film’s status before watching.
Rank #4
How other people involved responded
Dakota Johnson
Entertainment Tonight reported that Johnson said she was not surprised by the film’s lack of success and that she might not make a similar superhero film again. Her remark is a separate performer’s view, not a rebuttal of Roberts. The two actors were describing the same film from different positions, and neither statement addresses the other directly.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura
A ComicBook.com report from July 25, 2024, filed from San Diego Comic-Con, quoted producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura on the theatrical response. He said: “Yeah, that, that was uh, that was a heartbreaking experience in the theater. So I’ll tell you that.” Asked how it felt when a project did not connect with fans as hoped, he replied, “Like an Axe in your head.” (ComicBook.com, July 25, 2024)
Sydney Sweeney
The same report quoted Sydney Sweeney describing the film as helping her build a relationship with Sony. That is industry context about the studio relationship, not an explanation of the film’s performance.
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Weighing Roberts’s explanation
Roberts’s view is plausible as a description of how online ridicule can shape a film’s public image. It is harder to confirm as the reason for the film’s reception. The reported data cannot separate the effect of online commentary from other factors, such as the film’s marketing, its reviews, its release window, or audience expectations for a character-driven superhero story. No source in the reporting measures how many people chose not to buy tickets because of memes.
Readers should therefore treat “internet culture” as one of several possible contributors that Roberts emphasized, supported by her own experience of the reaction rather than by a study of the film’s audience.
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