“Madame Web” Producer On Superhero Fatigue

Various people have weighed in on the topic of superhero fatigue in recent times, especially as the genre has stumbled with a number of flops lately – even from those who’ve made guaranteed hits in the past.

Some have dismissed the concept as notso much tiredness of the genre itself, rather that of bland or bad filmmaking. We’re seeing that demonstrated at the box-office this weekend with “Spider-Man” spin-off “Madame Web” having landed with dismal reviews and underperforming box-office expectations.

That hasn’t stopped mega-producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” franchise steerer who produced “Madame Web,” to weigh in on the topic in a recent interview. Speaking with Discussing Film to promote the project yesterday, he says:

“I think two things have been going on, both with Marvel [the MCU] and DC. First of all, I think those kinds of superhero movies have suffered a little bit because they’ve gotten away from what made, for instance, the first Iron Man or Christopher Nolan’s Batman successful to begin with. Those were really character-based movies.

Then, when you start getting into these larger films where you’re trying to connect all the worlds together, you’re actually getting away from the emotional journey of the central characters.

So, for me, part of the fatigue is that you have to keep track of everything now. You know, it’s almost like homework. With Madame Web, you don’t have to know anything coming into the movie. You’re going to meet a new character and then go on an emotional journey with them.

That leads to my second point, a lot of recent superhero movies have also gone away from the thing that really works about having extraordinary characters, which is getting to know them and then going on a ride together.

That makes it more character-based and therefore engaging, it’s not just about the spectacle. Trust me, if you’ve seen some of my movies, I love spectacle. But when spectacle for its own sake begins to wear a film down, I think there’s a lesson to be learned.”

Whether he’s taken his own lesson to heart is another story. “Madame Web” currently sits at 13% (3.4/10) from 172 reviews from critics and at just 54% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes – worse than “Morbius” (15% critics/71% audience) and the second worst Marvel adaptation of recent years behind only the short-lived “Inhumans” TV series (11%/43%).

The news comes as Johnson tells Magic FM she hasn’t actually seen the film yet as she tends to avoid watching her own films, adding that “not watching my movies is, like, self care”.