‘Madame Web’ swings into theaters on Valentine’s Day with Dakota Johnson in the title role and Boston in the background.  

By Dana Barbuto/Boston Movie News

Sony’s “Spider-Man” super-hero spinoff “Madame Web,” starring Dakota Johnson, opens in theaters on February 14, with Massachusetts doubling for many of its New York locations.

The movie began filming in July 2022 in Boston and surrounding locations, including Chelsea, where Johnson’s character comes to the aid of an overturned car dangling on the edge of the Tobin Bridge.

Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney) and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O'Connor) in a scene from "Madame Web," which was partially filmed in Boston.
Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) in a scene from Madame Web, which was partially filmed in Boston.

Boston’s financial district was turned into early-2000s New York City to shoot scenes with a background full of period-specific references: yellow taxi cabs carrying advertising for “Dawson’s Creek,” a poster featuring Beyoncé’s debut solo album “Dangerously In Love,” plastered on a brick building, and New York Daily News boxes dotting the sidewalks. Yellowing production signs bearing the film’s code name, “Claire,” were hung around the Hangout, a 33,000-square-foot former fighter-jet hangar left over from Union Point’s previous life as the South Weymouth Naval Air Station.

In September 2022, crews spent three days on a night shoot in downtown Worcester to film precision driving and exterior street work. “We are very excited to be in Worcester! The city has a great look and will add value to the aesthetic of the film,” Passenger Production Inc. wrote on a notice sent to residents and businesses in the area.

A set for the “4 Star Diner,” one of Peter Parker’s (aka Spider-Man) favorite hangouts, was built on a baseball field near the West Andover fire station. Cameras also rolled in Allston and New England Studios in Devens. Additional scenes were also shot in New York City and in Mexico.

Filming for Madame Web wrapped in January 2023. Originally scheduled to release last July, the movie was delayed amid the SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Johnson (“The Lost Daughter”), who recently touted the film on “Saturday Night Live,” plays the title character, Cassandra Webb, a clairvoyant paramedic whose sensory powers include astral projection and telepathy. The film will center on her origin story as she squares off against the villainous Ezekiel Simms (Tahar Rahim, “The Mauritanian”). Starring alongside Johnson are Sydney Sweeney” (“The White Lotus”), Isabela Merced (“Instant Family”), Celeste O’Connor (“Ghostbusters: Afterlife”), and Adam Scott (“Severance”). S.J. Clarkson (“Anatomy of a Scandal”) directed the movie from a script by “Morbius” writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.

“Madame Web” is the latest movie set in Sony’s Spider-Man universe, which runs adjacent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sony’s franchise includes the two “Venom” movies, “Morbius” and the upcoming movie “Kraven the Hunter,” releasing August 30, and “El Muerto,” which stars Bad Bunny in the title role. No release date has been announced.

“Madame Web” is the first film in this universe to feature a female lead.