The superhero genre is a popular one, with a number of shared universes currently in play. That includes Sony's Spider-Verse (which doesn't actually include Peter Parker), with projects like Kraven and Madame Web, which are currently streaming with a Netflix subscription. The latter project featured Sydney Sweeney as Julia Cornwell, and she recently offered three reasons why she's not upset the movie flopped.
Madame Web bombed at the box office upon its release, and the movie's critical and audience response was also overwhelmingly negative. While Madame Web performed on Netflix, it might have been more hate watching than actual enjoyment. While speaking with Empire, the Euphoria star shared some positives from her time on that infamous project. In her words:
It’s always fun to be able to be a part of something that’s bigger than yourself. I hadn’t done a studio film yet, and I had started my production company [Fifty-Fifty Films]. I had some properties that I really wanted to be able to take out to studios, and I needed to be able to get my name to have more value, within a studio household. Doing a project like that really helps you on in the market.
She's not wrong. Sydney Sweeney started a collaboration with Sony thanks to her performance in the superhero flick, and it looks like that's opened the doors for more projects within the studio. So while Madame Web's ending might not have actually set up a new franchise, the project was still a major step forward for the actress/producer.
Sweeney credits Madame Web with being able to work on Anyone But You, which was as super successful rom-com. So she doesn't seem to upset about how her tenure as Spider-Woman was. In the same interview, she shared another reason she was happy to take on the infamous movie, offering:
I also wanted to be able to do something that my cousins can watch. I have a bunch of little teenage cousins, and they don’t really understand what I do. I thought it would be so cool to be able to do something that they’d actually think was fun and cool.
This really tracks, especially when you consider how many adult-themed projects the actress has been in. That includes Sweeney's tragic time on The Handmaid's Tale, as well as the nudity and sex scenes involved in Euphoria (which is streaming with a Max subscription). Those aren't exactly titles that she can share with her younger family members.
While Madame Web was a critical and box offie failure, that doesn't take anything away from Sydney Sweeney's memories of working on the film. As she put it:
I mean, I had a really fun time, so that is all that matters to me. I think that if you are enjoying what you do, it doesn’t really matter what the outcome is, on a box-office level. Of course, you want the film to be celebrated and loved and successful, because then everyone succeeds.
Honesty, that seems like a super healthy perspective on the job as a whole. Not every movie is going to be a hit, so instead Sweeney has to find fulfillment in actually filming and creating on set.
So while Madame Web didn't perform at the box office, it sounds like Sydney Sweeney still thinks that the movie worked for her. And her career continues to thrive, with a number of projects still arriving on the 2025 movie release list.
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