Morbius

2022 - 3 - 31

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Forbes"

'Morbius' Is One Of The Worst-Reviewed Superhero Movies Of All Time (Forbes)

I'm not sure anyone expected Jared Leto's Morbius to be some sort of MCU-level critical hit, but now that the reviews are in for the blockbuster, Morbius is ...

It’s really strange situation and while sometimes it’s worked out well enough (Venom!), Morbius may be a sign of a slate of pretty awful movies to come, unless they can figure out a way to make these relatively obscure villains work onscreen. So as you can see, this is some truly rarified air. Here’s how it stacks up to some truly terrible classics:

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Los Angeles Times"

'Morbius' review: Long-delayed Jared Leto movie is a misfire (Los Angeles Times)

Jared Leto plays the Marvel antihero 'Morbius' in this poorly-made action thriller.

And “Morbius” might be the worst-looking of them all. The bloody incident grabs the attention of detectives Stroud (Tyrese Gibson) and Rodriguez (Al Madrigal), who come to suspect Morbius in a string of murders. It’s a shocking problem in “Morbius” considering editor Pietro Scalia’s past award-winning work on “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down.” Why is Espinosa so afraid to show blood or gore? Smith rises above the film, moving with a lanky, unencumbered energy not unlike his “Doctor Who” days. Unlike “Blade Runner 2049” or “The Little Things,” where he could float through scenes as a blank villain, Morbius requires pathos, a layer deeply lacking in Leto’s range. The scrubbing in “Morbius” starts with a flashback to 25 years earlier. Daniel Espinosa’s “Morbius,” a misbegotten, artistically bankrupt bid by writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless to fuse a gothic horror edge to the MCU, is the nadir of comic book cinema. The slow motion and jump scare editing, mixed with plumes of black smoke, aims for frights, but only manages to stitch together a smattering of incomprehensible images. Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, the titular villain, sometimes anti-hero, sprung from the pages of “The Amazing Spider-Man” in 1971, imbuing the webslinger’s universe with a supernatural grittiness. Espinosa, unfortunately, is so beholden to the timbre of mass entertainment, he struggles to provide his film with the necessary bloodlust, brutality and frights to rise above a snore. So as Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a brooding biochemist living with a blood disease, sways with the assistance of crutches getting off the helicopter, the mystery of his story is moot. It’s no secret the desperate lengths contemporary movies, especially of the comic book variety, rely on VFX to do a film’s emotional heavy lifting.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "CNN"

'Morbius' review: Jared Leto tries bringing Marvel's vampire to life in ... (CNN)

As Marvel movies go, "Morbius" is more a sip than a gulp, a relatively small-boned Jekyll-and-Hyde tale that moves another Spider-Man villain into the ...

) from a screenplay by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, "Morbius" has ample company in the world of tortured antiheroes and villains whose well-intentioned scientific goals go terribly wrong. But the material is too anemic, frankly, to contemplate spreading its wings much beyond that. , the timing of the film's arrival merely underscores Jared Leto's range, from this living vampire to an entrepreneurial vampire in "WeCrashed"

Post cover
Image courtesy of "CNET"

Morbius' Release Won't Be Streaming on Netflix Same Day as ... (CNET)

Morbius star, one of the Sony movies linked to its universe of live-action Spider-Man films, stars Jared Leto and arrives in theaters Friday.

If it is released to stream within the six months that Deadline reported, No Way Home would arrive on Starz before early August. No Way Home was released in late 2021, and Sony has an agreement in place for its 2021 movies to go to the premium cable network Starz first, not Netflix. But Netflix never charges any additional fees to watch anything in its library, and Morbius will be part of the standard catalog like everything else.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Coast Reporter"

Review: 'Morbius'? More like moribund. This is just batty (Coast Reporter)

The latest hero from Marvel is hard to explain. He's a man and yet also a bat. No, not Batman. Let me try again: He's a daywalking vampire, but, no, ...

He just has to ignore moments like when Morbius is chained to a desk in a police department’s interview room and says: “I’m starting to get hungry and you don’t want to see me when I’m hungry.” There will be a lot of debate over where “Morbius” sits in the Marvel canon. For some reason, whenever he leaps, he is enveloped by a viscous cloud. He also seems to be able to turn into a bat and fly but why he hasn't flapped his way out of this film is unfathomable. What's astonishing is that despite a whole movie, we know very little about Morbius. He is so principled that he turns down a Nobel Prize but perfectly OK slaughtering henchmen. He's a man and yet also a bat.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "GamesRadar+"

Morbius ending explained: your biggest questions answered (GamesRadar+)

Matt Smith co-stars as Morbius' friend Milo, while Adria Arjona is Dr. Martine Bancroft, Jared Harris is Dr. Nicholas, Tyrese Gibson is FBI Agent Simon Stroud, ...

What Morbius will do in the long-term, though, will likely be answered in a sequel. In his own universe, Toomes was a villain – but in the Sony-verse, he could be seeking a fresh start. That's most likely because it references the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home – where Spider-Man was accused of killing Mysterio – and Morbius does not actually take place in the MCU (perhaps the plan changed at some stage in Morbius' development, though that remains unclear). How exactly he ended up in the Sony-verse is a mystery. Agents Stroud and Rodriguez hunt Morbius throughout the film, and are on the scene of his final showdown with Milo. When Morbius bursts out from underground and flies away in a swarm of bats, they stand and watch – and that's the last we see of them. Morbius believes the anti-coagulants in vampire bat saliva could help cure the disease – but ends up turning himself into a vampire instead. Milo believes Nicholas always favored Morbius and says that Nicholas pitied him before – and is repulsed by him now. As for why Milo has no problem with killing people, he says that, for their whole lives, he and Morbius have lived with death – so others can know how it feels for a change. During the final fight with Milo, a swarm of bats comes to Morbius' aid and holds Milo down. Both Milo and Morbius suffer from a rare blood disease, though it's given no name in the movie. With the help of Dr. Martine Bancroft, Morbius creates an antibody – one that will kill any "vampire" he injects with it. We've rounded up every single question you could possibly have on the Morbius ending, from what Vulture is doing in the Sony-verse to the fate of the main characters.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Polygon"

Morbius review: Marvel Studios' vampire wants what Venom has (Polygon)

Morbius, Sony's latest Marvel film based on a Spider-Man villain following Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, does very little to mimic Tom Hardy's ...

(If it wasn’t, someone probably would have asked him to say “human/bat chimera” out loud, and re-consider whether the experiment was a good idea.) With the help of colleague and love interest Dr. Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona), Morbius “accidentally” turns himself into a Living Vampire — basically a regular vampire, but without the traditional church allergies. Morbius is what happens when there’s a studio desire for another Venom, but without much thought as to how Venom connected with anyone. Dr. Morbius, we’re told, is one of the world’s foremost scientific minds, having developed a blue-tinged artificial blood that has “saved more lives than penicillin.” Yet he still has not found a cure for his disease — something he desperately wants, not for his own sake, but for his childhood friend Milo (Matt Smith), who suffers from the same disease and funds Morbius’ research through his wealth. Milo dances and preens every moment he’s on camera, in a performance that’s only marred by the CGI makeover both leads get when they vamp up, a choice that doesn’t seem much better than Buffy the Vampire Slayer-style prosthetics. Morbius is the kind of magic you’d want to keep a lid on: a two-hour spell that makes viewers forget it actually stars Jared Leto, one of the few men alive in danger of being too interesting, thanks to his widely publicized overcommitment to Method acting and a public persona that frequently evokes “benevolent cult leader” vibes. And a movie that apes Venom without an unpredictable performance at the center, it turns out, is a pretty lousy time.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "British GQ"

Morbius review: Michael Keaton's Morbius moment is everything ... (British GQ)

It is, in fact, the worst of the year so far. It has no redeeming qualities, from Jared Leto's monotonous, derivitive Blade rip-off — ah yes, another ...

It is, in fact, the worst of the year so far. Now, characters from each distinct brand can come into conflict — a new variant of Iron Man, for example, or Patrick Stewart’s twice-dead Professor X, or indeed three Spider-Men — the toys being mashed together by conglomerates desperate to milk as much as they can from an insatiable audience of foamy-mouthed fanboys. It has no redeeming qualities, from Jared Leto's monotonous, derivitive Blade rip-off — ah yes, another embarassing performance from the prince of prosthetics — to its absolute lack of formal imagination, inventive plotting, or technical acuity.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Screen Rant"

Morbius Rotten Tomatoes Score: Worst Sony Spider-Man Universe ... (Screen Rant)

Morbius' Rotten Tomatoes score clocks in as the worst Sony's Spider-Man Universe movie yet as critics slam the droll and dated effort.

When compared to both of Tom Hardy's Venom movies, which garnered 30 percent and 58 percent approval ratings respectively, Morbius' Rotten Tomatoes score makes it the worst Sony's Spider-Man Universe movie yet. Leto stars in Morbius as the titular scientist suffering from a rare blood disorder who elects to afflict himself with a form of transgenic vampirism in the hopes of curing it. Morbius' Rotten Tomatoes score clocks in as the worst Sony's Spider-Man Universe movie yet as critics slam the droll and dated effort.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "ABC News"

Review: 'Morbius'? More like moribund. This is just batty (ABC News)

The latest hero from Marvel is hard to explain. He's a man and yet also a bat. No, not Batman. Let me try again: He's a daywalking vampire, but, no, ...

There will be a lot of debate over where “Morbius” sits in the Marvel canon. He just has to ignore moments like when Morbius is chained to a desk in a police department’s interview room and says: “I’m starting to get hungry and you don’t want to see me when I’m hungry.” What's astonishing is that despite a whole movie, we know very little about Morbius. He is so principled that he turns down a Nobel Prize but perfectly OK slaughtering henchmen. The filmmakers — director Daniel Espinosa, hobbled by a meandering script from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless — simply do not know what to do with this creature once they've given us his backstory. He also seems to be able to turn into a bat and fly but why he hasn't flapped his way out of this film is unfathomable. So confused is the film's execution that it more closely resembles a horror movie than a superhero flick.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Looper"

Morbius Review: Beware The Bat, Man (Looper)

Is "Morbius" a good vampire film? Actually, yes.

This movie could have used more of that levity, but instead feels like a straight-faced "Doctor Strange," bogged down in mystical mumbo-jumbo without the release of the occasional wi-fi joke. Every comic book film needs a villain, and although Morbius is about as anti-hero as a hero can get, he does (try to) not kill people and he does (try to) not turn others into vampires. Setting aside franchises like the "Blade" and "Twilight" films and small outliers like "Let the Right One In," most cinematic vampiric tales of the past couple decades have been uninspired public domain duds, from "Dracula 2000" to "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" to "Daybreakers" and "John Carpenter's Vampires." As presented in this film, Morbius is a character who "invents" vampirism to save his life, one who opens a Pandora's box and then is forced to deal with its consequences, desperately sucking down bags of artificial blood to keep his hunger at bay, but smart enough to know he can't keep it up. But while Morbius will make it clear later in the film that words like "vampires" and "Dracula" are within the realm of his awareness, he clearly hasn't learned any lessons from such stories. But as destined as it seems to be set aside, sneered at and — even worse — unsequelized, this is also the sort of film you might catch late one night in a decade or two and realize it isn't as bad as everyone remembers. Which is a shame, because there are some very interesting elements afoot in this depiction of Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto). After a spooky opening in a cave filled with vampire bats, we flash back 25 years prior to meet the future "living vampire" as a child, dependent on regular blood transfusions to stay alive.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Verge"

Morbius review: Jared Leto plays himself in a bloody quick time event (The Verge)

Director Daniel Espinosa's Morbius — out April 1st — rips the classic Spider-Man villain out of Marvel's comic just to put him in a movie drained of all ...

But what does feel distinct to Morbius as a movie is the degree to which it’s willing to depict disabled people as frail, weak victims whose entire lives are defined in relation to the able-bodied. The implication, of course, being that Sony’s not through yet. In another universe, Morbius would dig a bit deeper into what might have been an interesting premise: the eccentric founder of a synthetic blood company becomes a pseudo-vampire who also moonlights as a superhero. But in this universe, the movie opts for the road more traveled — one paved with flashy VFX, opaque character motivations, and a climactic action sequence that plays like an overlong quick time event. Morbius doesn’t really try to detail how bat DNA is supposed to factor into Morbius’ condition or explain how he manages to transport hundreds of bats back to his laboratory after willingly walking into a swarm of them in the dramatic scene from the movie’s trailers. Morbius dives headfirst into the already-in-progress origin story of its titular ghoul, Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a brilliant scientist and lifelong sufferer of a chronic blood disorder.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The New York Times"

'Morbius' Review: Jared Leto Is the Other Bat, Man (The New York Times)

Jared Leto bares his teeth as a neo-vampire who walks by day and tries to keep his monstrous thirst at bay in the latest Marvel adaptation.

And while most of it is as predictably familiar as expected, it does something unusual for a movie like this: It entertains you, rather than bludgeons you into submission. Leto’s history of needless showboating (as in that wreck “ House of Gucci”) may not have boded well, but he fits the role and delivers an actual performance, not just shtick and brooding poses. One of the revelations of “Morbius” — the latest movie to take a marginal Marvel character out of mothballs for his blockbuster close-up — is that regular blood smoothies do wonders for the skin. Milo grows up to become a louche moneybags played by Matt Smith, who’s best known for playing Prince Philip in “The Crown,” a bit of casting history that gives his role here amusing tang. After a leisurely flashback to his sad childhood, Morbius is back in his New York lab, experimenting and knitting brows alongside a colleague, Monica (Adria Arjona). It also runs under two hours, i.e., a full hour less than that recent slugfest “ The Batman.” I mean, what’s not to like?

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Forbes"

'Morbius' Post Credits Scenes Reek Of Desperation (Forbes)

Morbius tries to set up a cinematic universe to rival the MCU, alienating the audience in the process.

Considering how tightly controlled and perfectly calibrated the MCU is, it’s pretty astonishing that Sony has managed to hijack it for its own ends, confusing fans of both franchises. Morbius also has no reason to dislike Spider-Man - in fact, it’s not clear if Spidey even exists in this universe. The second scene sees Morbius driving down a highway, then getting out of his car to meet Vulture, who is now equipped with his high-tech jetpack suit.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Newsweek"

When Will 'Morbius' Be Available on Streaming? (Newsweek)

Jared Leto's superhero film will be released in theaters on Friday, April 1, introducing a new antihero to the Sony Spider-Man universe.

Will 'Morbius' Be Available on Disney+? When Will 'Morbius' Be Available on Streaming? When Will 'Morbius' Be Available on Streaming?

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Inverse"

'Morbius' post-credits explained: How Sony's Spider-Man spinoff ... (Inverse)

'Morbius' has connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that sets up a Spider-Man showdown, but the scenes are puzzling.

There’s maybe a Peter Parker, but if there is he’s not Spider-Man. That doesn’t stop Vulture from name-dropping him like a LinkedIn contact, and somehow Morbius is immediately into the idea of beating him up. The second scene, which could also be mistaken for a luxury car commercial starring Jared Leto, has Morbius drive to a remote area. During the multiversal fracturing, Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) ends up in the Morbius/Venom universe. That last part is important, because here’s where the Morbius scene stops making sense. There are no scenes after the credits, but stick around to acknowledge the hard-working industry employees who deserved better than having to make Morbius. Yes, Morbius has two credits scenes.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "NPR"

Jared Leto is Marvel's bat-man in the vampiric 'Morbius' (NPR)

Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest superhero is not, in the conventional sense, either "super" or a "hero," but he does have an unorthodox ailment and a ...

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Den of Geek US"

Morbius Post-Credits Scenes Explained | Den of Geek (Den of Geek US)

This article contains Morbius spoilers. Ever since Marvel Studios began the tradition of including extra scenes during or after the end credits of its ...

We’ll have to see what happens if Morbius underperforms, although at least one more Arad-produced movie, Kraven the Hunter, is already in production and an inexplicable Madame Web film is on the way as well. Arad certainly deserves credit for his role in saving Marvel Comics and launching what became Marvel Studios in the period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. The implication is that this Toomes suddenly was transported from his cell in a different universe–presumably the MCU universe where was jailed at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming–and ended up here. Suddenly out of the sky appears Toomes in his full Vulture regalia (or at least a CG version of him since we never see Keaton’s face again). The Vulture expresses something to the effect that he doesn’t know how he got here, but he thinks it “has something do with Spider-Man.” A scene showing Morbius walking past a Spider-Man poster on a city wall–also seen in trailers–is also missing from the movie. In Morbius, Dr. Michael Morbius ( Jared Leto) is experimenting with a serum derived from vampire bat DNA to cure a rare blood disorder that he suffers from.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Vox"

Morbius's two post-credits scenes and the MCU, explained (Vox)

The violet cracks in the sky symbolize the multiverse breaking, and with this credits scene, the implication is that Morbius (Jared Leto) and his world (which ...

Yet with this bombshell cameo (which was teased in one of its trailers), it can’t help but feel a little like the credits scene and potential sequel are more important than anything that just happened in Morbius. All this universe-colliding stuff is a big deal because it’s how Marvel and Sony have addressed the film rights of various characters. The second scene picks up where the first one leaves off, and features Morbius meeting up with a free Toomes. The Vulture wants to recruit our living vampire into some kind of supervillain posse. Morbius has two credits scenes, one for every year that the movie was delayed! Morbius’s first credits scene features the purple time rift seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In that movie, Doctor Strange has to put the world back together to stop the multiverse from collapsing on itself. But since Toomes hasn’t been convicted of any crimes in Morbius’s world, we see him exonerated and freed.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Los Angeles Times"

'Morbius' end credits scenes explained: MCU's Sinister Six (Los Angeles Times)

How do the 'Morbius' credits scenes set up 'Sinister Six,' and how do they tie into the MCU? Read on and excelsior!

By the way, neither of these credits scenes are the Morbius-Toomes encounter from the January 2020 trailer, which showed them meeting as they passed in an alley (with Keaton delivering the “What’s up, doc?” line). That scene is not in the current film. Then Toomes (Keaton) finds himself in a prison cell in the continuity of “Morbius,” followed by news reports that he’s sure to be released after having just appeared out of nowhere. Toomes, in his full Vulture armor — including the mask that could conveniently excuse Keaton from filming, I’m just saying — shows up, thanks Morbius for meeting him and says they should band together to “do some good.” In the first scene, we see the familiar multiverse rift from “No Way Home” over the New York skyline. Now the MCU’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” multiverse fracture has thrown open the doors for pretty much any Spidey villain to wind up in the Six. If there can be said to be a classic Sinister Six lineup, it would include Doctor Octopus, the Vulture, Electro, Kraven, Mysterio and Sandman.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Atlantic"

'Morbius' Is a Portrait of a Very Annoying Weirdo (The Atlantic)

Jared Leto's one-note vampire is possibly the least helpful superhero we've seen yet.

Morbius is reflective of Leto’s much more self-serious side, and the film is thuddingly tedious as a result. The only time Morbius seems fleetingly interested in working for the public good is when he stalks some shady-seeming gangsters to a lab where they’re making counterfeit goods—but he then reveals that he only wants to hijack their lab to carry out more of his experiments. When Leto is at his most maximalist, it helps if the movie matches him—the willingness to embrace exaggerated silliness is what made House of Gucci such an enjoyable ride, with Leto hamming it up right in the middle of all the chaos. Most crucially, his best friend, Milo (Matt Smith), who has the same blood condition, gets his hands on the serum and becomes a vampire as well, embracing his villainy and delivering many a florid monologue about how great it is to suck people’s blood out of their neck. Leto, an actor who often makes a public meal of how committed he is to his roles, does his best to sell the monster within through lots of anguished screaming. Griping about a trend that’s just a Hollywood fact of life is almost trite, but in the case of Morbius, the dark and gloomy Jared Leto vehicle finally making it to theaters this weekend, I have to register a complaint.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Vulture"

It's a Bird! It's a Bat! It's Morbius' Mid-Credits Scenes, Explained (Vulture)

An analysis of the two mid-credits (or post-credits) scenes in Marvel and Sony's latest Spider-Man spinoff Morbius, starring Jared Leto as Dr. Michael ...

All we can say for sure is that nothing in either mid-credits scene contradicts No Way Home, and there is clearly more to this story and the rules of the multiverse that we’ll hopefully see explained across future films. No Way Home’s post-credits scene may have already hinted at a flaw in the spell, given that when Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is transported back to his world, a piece of the Venom symbiote gets left behind in the MCU. So clearly, not every living creature who was aware that Peter Parker is Spider-Man got sent back. The question of how Toomes was transported from the MCU to the SSU has puzzled some viewers, since Strange’s spell at the end of No Way Home supposedly only reverted the villains who had breached the multiverse back to their original dimensions. We just don’t know yet; as Strange tells Peter (Tom Holland) in No Way Home, “The multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little.” The same goes for Marvel’s rules on magic. I don’t know how I got here … something to do with Spider-Man. I’m thinking of putting a team together. The anchor reports that a hearing has been set, which “could likely lead to his immediate release.” Toomes is then escorted into a police car by several officers.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "CNBC"

Spider-Man spin-off 'Morbius' with Jared Leto is 'lazy,' 'not good' and ... (CNBC)

Many reviews noted that the film did not live up to the promises made in the trailer for a horror/thriller superhero film with ties to other Spider-Man films.

In the film, Leto portrays biochemist Michael Morbius, who is trying to cure himself of a rare blood disease. As Adam Graham of the Detroit News notes in his review of the film, the studio's desire to expand its Spider-Man lore is understandable. Graham is not alone in his assessment of the Jared Leto-led film.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Forbes"

Here Are The 'Morbius' Vulture Post-Credits Scenes So You Don't ... (Forbes)

Morbius has arrived and is currently sitting as one of the worst-reviewed superhero movies…ever. That means you may not want to actually see Morbius, ...

The public didn’t know the multiverse stuff was directly connected to Spider-Man, so why would Toomes know that? Originally, it seems as if Toomes and Morbius’ interaction was supposed to take place in a different context, which is why some of the lines from the trailer did not make it into the final film. A main problem with the way things were changed was that because everything got carved up and was forced to integrate the events of No Way Home means that almost nothing about it makes sense. It seems the very, very large amount of delays which pushed Morbius to be released after Spider-Man: No Way Home is what caused these final scenes to be so seemingly random. It’s more like they stole Toomes from the MCU rather than added Morbius to the MCU, which was more the original implication. All of this seems…pretty poorly mapped out at the moment, including Toomes’ clumsy inclusion here in the post-credits sequence which was advertised as a main selling point of the movie in order to generate “oh hey Morbius is connected to the MCU!” buzz, which seems pretty misleading now.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Vox"

Morbius sucks the fun and charm out of the vampire story (Vox)

Jared Leto as the character Morbius in a chemistry lab. Jared Leto is a vampire in STEM, in Morbius. Courtesy of Sony. Over the last ...

Primed by the culmination of two years of Morbius trailers or spending the better part of an hour and a half watching Jared Leto slurp down blood bags like a college freshman, I could not believe Morbius was really all wrapping up like this. It dawned on me that there’s probably going to be a sequel, or some tie-in; that this horrendous thing was maybe just really the beginning. The five minutes or so in which this all happens borders on psychotic; I found myself hollering an obscene and inhuman hoot — a gurgling death rattle from the last vestiges of my sanity. Michael Morbius is a genius doctor who has assembled a team of unnamed characters to travel, by helicopter, to Costa Rica’s Cerro de la Muerte, which translates into English as “The Mountain of Death.” We do not get much more information on how much killing the mountain has done. A lot of vampire tales complicate the problem of taking on a fairly reprehensible form of being by ensuring their bloodsuckers are intoxicatingly charismatic. Compared to the great lengths that Morbius went to to reach Costa Rica’s Cerro de la Muerte, a jaunty sprint to the waters just beyond Fire Island seems a little silly, comical even. Morbius’s gimmick is that Morbius is now essentially a vampire, but without any tether to existing mythology. The international waters in question end up being a Panamanian cargo ship 12 miles off the coast of Long Island. If Morbius was a person you were supposed to have a date with who kept postponing, at this point you’d both agree to just forget the other existed. However, we do learn that Morbius is trying to capture a bunch of vampire bats to take home with him to New York City. He slices his palm open, blood drips down, and thousands of bats come shooting out of the cave trying to lick his pale little hand. This state of eternally “coming soon” was due to the numerous delays the movie has faced. Over the last two very long years, nothing has been made more clear than the fact that the world we live in is devoid of constants.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Forbes"

Box Office: 'Morbius' Nabs $5.7 Million Thursday (Forbes)

In what Hollywood hopes is a good start to what will be a strong month at the box office, Sony's Morbius earned $5.7 million in Thursday previews.

The film was almost certainly never going to open like Venom as Eddie Brock is more popular than Michael Morbius and Tom Hardy is more popular than Jared Leto. But since Sony spent 17% less on Morbius than on Venom, that’s okay. Running the math, a $5.7 million Thursday gross means that if Morbius plays like Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($90 million from an $11.6 million Thursday) then it’ll score $45 million for the weekend. Yes, the reviews were (expectedly) terrible with 15% rotten and 3.4/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m on a family road trip, so I haven’t seen it yet, but the word seems to imply that the film is what we all expected/feared Venom would be in late 2018.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Deadline"

'Morbius': Sony Marvel Title Bites $5.7M In Thursday Previews (Deadline)

While Sony is expecting $33M from the Daniel Espinosa directed, Jared Leto starring movie, industry estimates are higher between $40M-$50M. Working against the ...

The movie ends its first week with an estimated $755K which includes Wednesday night special Imax screenings of $75K. Cinemark is apparently driving the bulk of business with about 100 theaters, followed by Regal with 65 bookings. A24’s horror movie X is taking 10th place with a $1M third weekend, -52% at 1,799 venues, and a running total of $10.4M by EOD tomorrow. Morbius in a fan screening Wednesday night at the Playa Vista Cinemark, which saw an appearance by Leto, played through the roof to a packed crowd. Translation: People are still craving to go to the movies after being sidelined from activities during the pandemic, duh. On 11 studio-owned videos on YouTube, fans and international channels have ripped, reposted, and reviewed at a very high viral rate of 43:1 and 228.9M views, “which is exceptional at double the norm for action-adventure-horror-sci-fi,” says the social media monitor. Focus Features’ has the 19th Century Macedonian set genre movie You Won’t Be Alone, which debuted at the virtual Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The social media universe for the film stands at 416.1M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, “which is hauntingly close in stats to Venom, which opened with an SMU of 417.2M” reports RelishMix. That reach doesn’t include un-activated Marvel (127.1M) social channels in the mix. Morbius leaned toward men at 61%, with 57% over 25, and 60% between the core moviegoing demographic of 18-34. Next weekend, there’s a one-two-punch from Paramount and Universal, with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 aimed at families, and Ambulance targeting guys. That said, with awful reviews at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, a C+ CinemaScore, and low Comscore PostTrak audience exits of 62% positive/47% recommend; everyone in the business should count their blessings with a $40M+ opening here. Some 217.7M Americans are fully vaccinated with two shots, repping 77% of the US population.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Cosmic Circus"

Review: 'Morbius' is the Most Confusing Marvel Film Yet - The ... (The Cosmic Circus)

Countless delays and loads of confusing advertisements later, we can rejoice as we've all survived to see the day that Sony's Morbius was released in...

While Morbius is a movie I really think I enjoyed to some extent, it’s hard to digest and discuss. The most frustrating part about Morbius is something I mentioned at the beginning: it had a lot of promise. Just as Morbius takes the stage to say something, we cut to him in some lab taking care of a young girl who mentions that he just refused to accept the prize. The editing in Morbius may be the worst that I’ve ever seen, and could possibly be the worst editing to come out of major studio production. Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) gets off of a helicopter in the jungle where he gets the attention of a ton of bats in a cave. Morbius opens right in the middle of the action.

Explore the last week