''Morbius'' is a 2022 American
superhero film
A superhero film (or superhero movie) is a film that focuses on the actions of superheroes. Superheroes are individuals who possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically feature Action film, ac ...
based on the
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
character
of the same name, produced by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
in association with
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics
...
. Distributed by
Sony Pictures Releasing
Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (commonly known as Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainme ...
, it is the third film in
Sony's Spider-Man Universe
Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, the f ...
(SSU). Directed by
Daniel Espinosa
Jorge Daniel Espinosa (born 23 March 1977) is a Swedish film director from Trångsund, Stockholm, of Chilean origin.
Early life
He attended the National Film School of Denmark and graduated in 2001.
Career
His third feature film, '' Easy Mone ...
and written by
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are American screenwriters, best known for writing films together, like '' Dracula Untold'', '' The Last Witch Hunter'', '' Gods of Egypt'' and '' Morbius.''
Career
In August 2008, Sazama and Sharpless were hired ...
, it stars
Jared Leto
Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Golde ...
as Dr. Michael Morbius, alongside
Matt Smith
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...
,
Adria Arjona
Adria Arjona Torres (born April 25, 1992) is an actress based in the United States. She played Dorothy Gale in the Oz book adaptation ''Emerald City'' (2017), Anathema Device in the TV adaptation of ''Good Omens'' (2019), and Bix Caleen in '' ...
,
Jared Harris
Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the AMC television drama series ''Mad Men'', for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Serie ...
,
, and
Tyrese Gibson
Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American actor and singer. He released his self-titled debut album in 1998, which featured the single " Sweet Lady", peaking at number twelve on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His second ...
. In the film, Morbius and his surrogate brother Milo (Smith) become
living vampires after curing themselves of a rare blood disease.
There were several attempts to bring Morbius to the big screen since 1998, including joining the
''Blade'' franchise as an antagonist and having a solo film produced by
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...
, neither of which ever came to fruition. After announcing plans for a new
shared universe
A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...
of films inspired by
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
related characters beginning with ''
Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
'' (2018), Sony began developing a film based on Morbius. Sazama and Sharpless had written a script by November 2017, and Leto and Espinosa officially joined in June 2018. Work on the film began at the end of the year with further casting, ahead of production starting in London in February 2019. Filming was confirmed to have been completed by June 2019, with reshoots happening in Los Angeles the following February.
''Morbius'' premiered at the
Plaza Carso
Plaza Carso is a large mixed-use development in the Nuevo Polanco area of Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, backed by billionaire Carlos Slim. The total cost of the complex is quoted between US$800 million and 1.4 billion. The complex claims to be the ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
on March 10, 2022 and was theatrically released in the United States on April 1, 2022, after being delayed several times from an initial July 2020 date, primarily due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. It received largely negative reviews from critics, with criticism towards its writing, visual effects, and
post-credits scene
A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...
s, though Smith's performance received some praise. The film was also a
box office flop
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, grossing $167 million worldwide. Due to the poor critical and commercial reception, it became the subject of various
internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
s.
Plot
At a hospital in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, 10-year-old
Michael Morbius welcomes his surrogate brother Lucien, whom he unintentionally renames Milo; they bond over their shared blood illness and desire to be "normal". Their adoptive father and hospital director
Nicholas
Nicholas is a male given name and a surname.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...
arranges for Morbius to attend medical school in New York while he focuses on caring for Milo.
25 years later, Morbius publicly declines a
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
for his work with
artificial blood
A blood substitute (also called artificial blood or blood surrogate) is a substance used to mimic and fulfill some functions of biological blood. It aims to provide an alternative to blood transfusion, which is transferring blood or blood-based ...
. His colleague
Martine Bancroft
Nakia Bahadir
Nakia Bahadir is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a Turkish girl and friend of Kamala Khan.
Nakia Bahadir in other media
Nakia Bahadir appears in ''Ms. Marvel'', portrayed ...
discovers he has secretly captured dozens of
vampire bat
Vampire bats, species of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are leaf-nosed bats found in Central and South America. Their food source is blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species feed solely on blood: the com ...
s from
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
in the hope of splicing their genes with his own to cure his condition. After informing Milo of his planned illegal experiment, Morbius receives funding from him to outfit a private mercenary vessel in
international waters
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...
with his equipment. While the cure works, it transforms Morbius into a
vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
, who kills and drains the crew of their blood after they attack him out of fear. Once his bloodlust subsides and he regains his senses, a horrified Morbius erases all
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
footage of his experiment before contacting the authorities and jumping overboard.
Morbius returns to New York and discovers he now has
superhuman
The term superhuman refers to humans or human-like beings with enhanced qualities and abilities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. Th ...
strength, speed, reflexes, and
echolocation, with his vampire bats treating him as one of their own. To control his bloodlust, he subsists on his artificial blood as it gradually ceases to satisfy his needs. FBI agents
Simon Stroud
Sabra
Sabreclaw
Sabreclaw is a character in the Marvel Comics 2, MC2 universe who first appeared in ''J2 (comics), J2'' #8 (May 1999). He is the half-brother of Wild Thing (comics), Wild Thing and the son of Wolverine (character), Wolverine.
...
and Al Rodriguez investigate Morbius' victims and deduce his involvement. Milo learns that Morbius is cured but becomes furious when Morbius refuses to cure him as well. While checking on a hospitalized Bancroft, Morbius finds a dead nurse, drained of her blood. Believing he was responsible, he attempts to escape before being cornered and arrested by Stroud. In prison, he is visited by Milo, who offers to use his wealth to free him. Upon realizing Milo took his cure and killed the nurse, Morbius escapes to confront him. An unrepentant Milo confesses to his bloodlust-induced crime and urges Morbius to embrace his powers as he has. Unwilling to hurt his brother, Morbius flees.
Morbius meets Bancroft to explain what Milo has done before acquiring a new lab and developing an
antibody
An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...
against
vampirism
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
to stop and kill Milo; he also plans to use it on himself since he will become unable to resist his bloodlust. Stroud and Rodriguez find footage of one of Milo's attacks and, believing Morbius'
vampirism
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
to be spreading, release it to the media. Nicholas recognizes Milo and pleads with him to stop. Angered by Nicholas' perceived preference for Morbius, Milo wounds and forces him to call Morbius, who arrives too late to save him while Milo also mortally wounds Bancroft. Morbius returns to Bancroft, but she dies in his arms, forcing him to drink her blood. Morbius confronts Milo and summons an army of bats to restrain him and inject the antibody. Milo dies peacefully and Morbius flies off with the bats, mourning his loved ones and embracing his identity as a fugitive vampire. Unbeknownst to him, Bancroft revives elsewhere with glowing red eyes, having ingested a drop of Morbius' blood whilst he was feeding on her.
In two
mid-credits scene
A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...
s,
Adrian Toomes
The Vulture (Adrian Toomes) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Toomes is an Invention, inventive, but maniacal genius who designed a special suit that allows him to fly at vast speeds. After turning to ...
finds himself transported to
Morbius' universe. Having deduced that his transportation involved
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
, Toomes approaches the fugitive Morbius and suggests that they form a team.
Cast
*
Jared Leto
Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Golde ...
as Dr.
Michael Morbius:
A scientist suffering from a rare
blood disease whose attempts to cure himself afflict him with a form of
transgenic
A transgene is a gene that has been transferred naturally, or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques, from one organism to another. The introduction of a transgene, in a process known as transgenesis, has the potential to change the ...
vampirism,
gaining all of the superhuman abilities but none of the superstitious weaknesses associated with
vampires
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths ...
. Leto was drawn to the character's struggle with his disease and the moral implications of a hero who has a thirst for blood.
He found the role surprisingly challenging since it was less character-driven than his prior performances and closer to his real-life personality, not requiring his well-known
method acting
Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...
approach.
Charlie Shotwell
Charlie Shotwell (born July 17, 2007) is an American actor. He started acting professionally at the age of six. His first notable role being the young Nai Cash in the 2016 comedy-drama film ''Captain Fantastic (film), Captain Fantastic'' for whic ...
portrays a young Morbius.
*
Matt Smith
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...
as Lucien / Milo Morbius:
Morbius' surrogate brother, a wealthy man originally named Lucien and nicknamed by Morbius (due to sharing a bed with a deceased boy named Milo), who suffers from the same rare blood disease as he does.
When Milo gains the same abilities as Michael, he embraces his identity as a vampire whole-heartedly.
Smith was originally announced to play comic book character
Loxias Crown / Hunger, but this was later changed to a significantly different character based on Morbius himself.
After turning down other superhero film roles, Smith joined the film due to
Daniel Espinosa
Jorge Daniel Espinosa (born 23 March 1977) is a Swedish film director from Trångsund, Stockholm, of Chilean origin.
Early life
He attended the National Film School of Denmark and graduated in 2001.
Career
His third feature film, '' Easy Mone ...
's involvement and encouragement from his former ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' castmate
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the science fiction seri ...
, who portrays
Nebula
A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...
in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
(MCU).
Espinosa encouraged Smith to give a bold, villainous performance.
Joseph Esson portrays a young Milo.
*
Adria Arjona
Adria Arjona Torres (born April 25, 1992) is an actress based in the United States. She played Dorothy Gale in the Oz book adaptation ''Emerald City'' (2017), Anathema Device in the TV adaptation of ''Good Omens'' (2019), and Bix Caleen in '' ...
as Dr.
Martine Bancroft
Nakia Bahadir
Nakia Bahadir is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a Turkish girl and friend of Kamala Khan.
Nakia Bahadir in other media
Nakia Bahadir appears in ''Ms. Marvel'', portrayed ...
: A scientist and Morbius' colleague.
Arjona said the character was "the smart one in the room" and took inspiration from politician and activist
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of th ...
.
*
Jared Harris
Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the AMC television drama series ''Mad Men'', for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Serie ...
as Dr.
Emil Nicholas: A mentor and father figure for Morbius and Milo who runs a facility that looks after people with incurable illnesses.
*
as Alberto "Al" Rodriguez: An
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
agent hunting Morbius, and Stroud's partner.
*
Tyrese Gibson
Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American actor and singer. He released his self-titled debut album in 1998, which featured the single " Sweet Lady", peaking at number twelve on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His second ...
as
Simon Stroud
Sabra
Sabreclaw
Sabreclaw is a character in the Marvel Comics 2, MC2 universe who first appeared in ''J2 (comics), J2'' #8 (May 1999). He is the half-brother of Wild Thing (comics), Wild Thing and the son of Wolverine (character), Wolverine.
...
:
An FBI agent hunting Morbius, and Rodriguez's partner.
Gibson noted that the character is white in the comic books, and the producers "made him
lack
Lack may refer to:
Places
* Lack, County Fermanagh, a townland in Northern Ireland
* Lack, Poland
* Łąck, Poland
* Lack Township, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, US
Other uses
* Lack (surname)
* Lack (manque), a term in Lacan's psychoanalyti ...
to cast Gibson. While Gibson described Stroud as a "
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
" with a "hi-tech weapons-grade arm" in the film, all scenes featuring this arm
were cut.
Gibson signed a three-picture deal when he joined the film.
Corey Johnson portrays
mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
Mr. Fox,
while
Michael Keaton
Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his various comedic and dramatic film roles, including Jack Butler in ''Mr. Mom'' (1983), Betelgeuse in ''Beetlejuice'' ( ...
makes a
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
in the
mid-credits scene
A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...
s as
Adrian Toomes / Vulture, reprising his role from the MCU film ''
Spider-Man: Homecoming'' (2017).
Production
Development
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...
announced a deal with
Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Enterprises) is an American show business, entertainment company (law), company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York (state), New York, formed by the merger of #Marvel Entertainment ...
in May 2000 to co-produce, finance, and distribute several films based on
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
characters, including
Morbius, the Living Vampire
Morbius the Living Vampire, real name Michael Alexander Morbius, Doctor of Medicine, M.D.,''Morbius the Living Vampire'' (vol. 1) #1. Marvel Comics. Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D., is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comi ...
.
Previously, the character was set to appear in ''
Blade
A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historic ...
'' (1998), portrayed by director
Stephen Norrington
Stephen Norrington (born 1964) is an English filmmaker and special effects artist known for his work in the horror and action genres. Beginning his career as a sculptor and makeup artist, he worked under Dick Smith, Rick Baker, and Stan Winston ...
in a cameo appearance ahead of a larger role in a sequel. However, the character was cut from the first film and not introduced in ''
Blade II
''Blade II'' is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by David S. Goyer. A sequel to ''Blade'' (1998), it is the second installment in the ''Blade'' franchise, fol ...
'' (2002) after Norrington chose not to return for that film.
In May 2017, Sony announced plans for a new
shared universe
A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...
featuring
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
-related properties beginning with ''
Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
'' in October 2018;
this was later titled "
Sony's Spider-Man Universe
Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, the f ...
".
In July, ''
Spider-Man: Homecoming'' (2017) director
Jon Watts
Jonathan Watts (born June 28, 1981) is an American filmmaker. His credits include directing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero films '' Spider-Man: Homecoming'', '' Spider-Man: Far From Home'', and '' Spider-Man: No Way Home''. He was ...
expressed interest in featuring Morbius and
Blade
A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historic ...
in the then untitled ''
Spider-Man: Far From Home'' (2019), believing that the character's dark tone could work well within the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
(MCU).
That November,
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are American screenwriters, best known for writing films together, like '' Dracula Untold'', '' The Last Witch Hunter'', '' Gods of Egypt'' and '' Morbius.''
Career
In August 2008, Sazama and Sharpless were hired ...
submitted a script to Sony for a ''Morbius'' film, after a "secret development process" at the studio.
Jared Leto
Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Golde ...
became "loosely attached" to star in the title role, but would not commit to the film until he was happy with its direction; Leto asked to personally meet with several director candidates.
![Jared Leto, San Diego Comic Con 2016 (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Jared_Leto%2C_San_Diego_Comic_Con_2016_%282%29.jpg)
By the end of April 2018, Sony had approached
Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua (born May 30, 1965) is an American filmmaker, known for his work in the action and thriller genres. He was originally known as a director of music videos, and made his film debut in 1998 with ''The Replacement Killers''. His critica ...
about potentially directing the film. He expressed interest in taking on the project, and said that if he was to make a film in the superhero genre he would want to make it "something that's closer to what I get excited about."
He ultimately chose not to take on the project.
Other directors that Sony approached about the film included
F. Gary Gray
Felix Gary Gray (born July 17, 1969) is an Americans, American film director, film producer, and music video director. Gray began his career as a director on numerous critically acclaimed and award-winning music videos, including "It Was a Good ...
, who considered directing the film but ultimately turned down the role,
and
Daniel Espinosa
Jorge Daniel Espinosa (born 23 March 1977) is a Swedish film director from Trångsund, Stockholm, of Chilean origin.
Early life
He attended the National Film School of Denmark and graduated in 2001.
Career
His third feature film, '' Easy Mone ...
, who previously directed the film ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' (2017) for the studio.
In May, while
on tour in Germany with his band
Thirty Seconds to Mars
Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Leto (drums, pe ...
, Leto met with Espinosa to talk about the film,
and the pair were both confirmed for the project at the end of June.
Avi Arad
Avi Arad (; he, אבי ארד; born 1948) is an Israeli-American film producer who became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, and the chairman, CEO, and founde ...
,
, and
Lucas Foster
Lucas Foster is an American film producer whose films include ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'', ''Man on Fire'', and ''Equilibrium''. He is also one of the co-founders of HeadcaseVR, a virtual reality company.
Career
In late 2009, it was revealed that ...
were producing,
and filming was expected to begin by the end of 2018. Sony was expected to fit the film into its already-set Marvel release slate shortly.
Pre-production
By the end of September, Sony was intending for production on the film to take place in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
—where ''Spider-Man: Homecoming'' and ''Venom'' were previously produced—but had still not set a release date for the film.
Screen Rant
''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...
's Cooper Hood opined that Sony was likely waiting to see the response to ''Venom'' in early October, with Arad confirming at that time that there was excitement at Sony to produce ''Morbius'', especially due to the story of a "healer that becomes a killer, and how do you deal with
hat? Tolmach said the project was "very far along" at that stage and they were now planning to begin filming in early 2019,
with the intention that ''Morbius'' would be the second film released as part of Sony's shared universe after ''Venom''.
He added that Leto was bringing the same "intensity" to the film that he had brought to playing the
Joker in ''
Suicide Squad
The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...
'' (2016).
By November, box office analysts believed that ''Venom'' had been successful enough for Sony to move ahead with other films like ''Morbius'',
and at the end of that month the studio dated an untitled Marvel film that was believed to be ''Morbius'' for a July 10, 2020, release.
Adria Arjona
Adria Arjona Torres (born April 25, 1992) is an actress based in the United States. She played Dorothy Gale in the Oz book adaptation ''Emerald City'' (2017), Anathema Device in the TV adaptation of ''Good Omens'' (2019), and Bix Caleen in '' ...
entered negotiations to portray the film's female lead, Martine Bancroft, in December;
her involvement was confirmed a month later when Sony pushed the release date to July 31,
and
Matt Smith
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...
also joined the cast in an undisclosed role.
Art Marcum and Matt Holloway
Art Marcum and Matt Holloway are an American screenwriting duo, best known for writing the scripts of ''Iron Man'' and '' Punisher: War Zone''.
Career
In 2008, Marcum and Holloway wrote the script of Marvel Studios' superhero film ''Iron Man'' ...
made uncredited contributions to the film's script.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began during the last week of February 2019 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
under the
working title
A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...
''Plasma''.
Oliver Wood served as cinematographer for the film.
With the start of filming,
Jared Harris
Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the AMC television drama series ''Mad Men'', for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Serie ...
and
Tyrese Gibson
Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American actor and singer. He released his self-titled debut album in 1998, which featured the single " Sweet Lady", peaking at number twelve on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His second ...
joined the cast as Morbius' mentor and an FBI agent hunting Morbius, respectively.
Smith was reported to be portraying the villainous
Loxias Crown / Hunger,
though he was later revealed to be playing an original character named Milo who is similar to Loxias Crown.
Harris was revealed to be portraying Dr. Nicholas, a mentor and father figure to both Michael and Milo.
In March, filming took place in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
's
Northern Quarter, doubling for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
A month later, Gibson revealed that he was portraying Simon Stroud, and that
had been cast as his partner, Alberto Rodriguez.
At the end of the month,
Justin Haythe
Justin Haythe (born September 16, 1973) is an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his book ''The Honeymoon'', and the screenplay for the film ''Revolutionary Road'', directed by Sam Mendes.
Haythe live ...
was believed to have contributed to the film's script.
Filming was scheduled to take 12 weeks,
and ''Venom'' producer
Amy Pascal
Amy Beth Pascal (born March 25, 1958) is an American film producer and business executive. She served as the Chairperson of the Motion Pictures Group of Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony P ...
said in June that production had "just wrapped" on the project.
Production also occurred at
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
.
Post-production
In September 2019, Sony announced a new agreement with
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
that extended a previous deal to have
Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...
and its president
Kevin Feige
Kevin Feige ( ; born June 2, 1973) is an American film and television producer who has been the president of Marvel Studios and the primary producer of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise since 2007. The films he has produced have a combin ...
produce a sequel to ''Far From Home'', keeping Spider-Man in Marvel's shared universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As part of the new agreement, Feige stated that moving forward the MCU's Spider-Man would be able to "cross cinematic universes" and appear in Sony's own shared universe as well.
This interaction was said to be "a 'call and answer' between the two franchises as they acknowledge details between the two in what would loosely be described as a shared detailed universe".
The film's first trailer, released in January 2020, included a brief appearance by
Michael Keaton
Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his various comedic and dramatic film roles, including Jack Butler in ''Mr. Mom'' (1983), Betelgeuse in ''Beetlejuice'' ( ...
, reprising his role as
Adrian Toomes / Vulture from the co-produced Marvel Studios Spider-Man film ''Spider-Man: Homecoming''.
Some of Keaton's scenes had to be reshot when the events depicted in ''
Spider-Man: No Way Home'' (2021) did not properly coincide with ''Morbius''. Certain moments, such as Morbius walking past a graffiti painting of Spider-Man, were added in the film without Espinosa's knowledge, only to be removed in the final film.
Reshoots for the film began in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
by early February 2020,
and were finished a month later when film productions around the United States were halted due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
At the end of March, the film's release date was pushed back to March 19, 2021, due to the pandemic closing theaters around the world.
In January 2021, the film was delayed again, first to October 8, 2021, and then to January 21, 2022, when ''
No Time to Die
''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy film and the twenty-fifth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, starring Daniel Craig in his fifth and final portrayal of fictional British MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Cary Jo ...
'' was moved to the October 2021 date.
At the end of January, Leto revealed that additional reshoots were taking place in mid-February.
The film's release was moved back another week at the end of April 2021, moving to January 28, 2022.
At the start of January 2022, the film was delayed to April 1, 2022, due to the box office success of ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'' which Sony hoped would continue throughout early 2022.
Later that month,
Corey Johnson was revealed to have a role in the film.
In March, visual effects supervisor
Matthew E. Butler
Matthew E. Butler is a visual effects supervisor.
He was nominated at the 84th Academy Awards in the category of Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for the film '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon''. His nomination was shared with Scott Benza, ...
revealed that
motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
technology had been used for Leto to portray Morbius' vampiric form.
Espinosa cited ''
Pokémon
(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.
In terms of ...
'' as an influence on the portrayal of Morbius' powers, specifically singling out the series's use of light and color to depict the title creatures' attacks and abilities.
Music
By October 2019,
Jon Ekstrand was set to compose the score for ''Morbius'' after doing the same for Espinosa's previous films.
Ekstrand's score was released digitally by Madison Gate Records on April 8, 2022.
Marketing
The teaser trailer for the film was released on January 13, 2020.
Julia Alexander at ''
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
'' described the premise of the film as presented by the trailer as "ridiculous",
while Matt Goldberg of ''
Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators.
Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...
'' felt it looked "silly" and also noted that the film looked very similar to ''Venom'', which he acknowledged was commercially successful.
Scott Mendelson, writing for ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', agreed with the comparison to ''Venom'' which he felt was a good move by Sony due to the success of their last few ''Spider-Man'' films, but cautioned that Leto may not have the same box office draw for general audiences that
Tom Hardy gave to ''Venom''.
Much of the discussion surrounding the trailer centered on the revelation of Keaton's role and the visual reference to Spider-Man, which led to questions about the film's relationship with the ''Spider-Man'' films and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A second trailer was released on November 2, 2021, and led to further confusion and speculation about the film's connections to other franchises. Fans and commentators noted that the trailer, in addition to the ''Venom'' films, also references
Sam Raimi
Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1 ...
's
''Spider-Man'' trilogy,
Marc Webb
Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974) is an American music video director and filmmaker. Webb made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy ''500 Days of Summer'', and went on to direct ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' in ...
's
''The Amazing Spider-Man'' films, and the MCU ''Spider-Man'' films despite all three franchises being set in different fictional universes.
Prior to the film's theatrical release, Espinosa clarified that ''Morbius'' is set in the same universe as the SSU ''Venom'' films.
In March 2022, Sony used their
''The Daily Bugle'' promotional TikTok account, previously used for ''
Spider-Man: No Way Home'', to market ''Morbius''; the videos feature Nicque Marina reporting on events relative to the film.
Release
Theatrical
''Morbius'' had its world premiere at the
Plaza Carso
Plaza Carso is a large mixed-use development in the Nuevo Polanco area of Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, backed by billionaire Carlos Slim. The total cost of the complex is quoted between US$800 million and 1.4 billion. The complex claims to be the ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
on March 10, 2022,
and was released in the United States on April 1, 2022, in
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
and other premium large formats.
It was originally set for release on July 10, 2020,
before moving three weeks later to July 31.
The film was then delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, firstly to March 19, 2021,
then to October 8, 2021, and to January 21, 2022, before moving a week later to January 28.
It was then delayed again to the April 2022 date.
Sony chose not to release the film in Russia due to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.
The negative reception toward the film generated an ironic
meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
culture surrounding it with "praise", which led Sony to re-release it into 1,000 theaters on June 3, 2022. This re-release also performed poorly, making just $280,000 over the weekend.
Home media
Sony signed deals with
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
in April 2021 for the U.S. streaming and TV rights to their 2022 to 2026 film slate, following the films' theatrical and home media windows.
Netflix signed for exclusive "first pay window" streaming rights, which is typically an 18 month window and included future Marvel films in Sony's Spider-Man Universe.
''Morbius'' began streaming on Netflix starting September 7, 2022.
Disney signed for "pay 2 window" rights for the films, which would be streamed on
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
and
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
as well as broadcast on Disney's linear television networks.
''Morbius'' was released on digital download on May 17, 2022, and was released on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, and
4K Ultra HD on June 14 by
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Background
SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...
.
Reception
Box office
''Morbius'' grossed $73.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $93.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $167.5 million.
In the U.S. and Canada, ''Morbius'' was projected to gross around $33 million from 4,268 theaters in its opening weekend, with some industry tracking going as high as $40–50 million. The film earned $17.3 million on its first day, including $5.7 million from Thursday preview screenings.
It went on to debut to $39 million, finishing first at the box office.
In its second weekend of release in the US and Canada, the film grossed $10.2 million and finished second behind ''
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Eggman from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space stationnamed T ...
'', while experiencing a drop of 74%, the second-worst of all time for a superhero movie, behind only ''
Steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
'' (1997), and the worst of any tentpole superhero movie. It fell to sixth place at the box office in its third weekend, grossing $4.7 million (a drop of 54%), and dropped to ninth place in its fourth weekend with $2.3 million (a drop of 51%). The film earned $1.5 million in its fifth weekend, finishing tenth. ''Morbius'' dropped out of the box office top ten in its sixth weekend. The film's "re-release" in theaters during its tenth weekend made $310,665 from 1,037 screens during its first three days.
Outside the US and Canada, the film earned $44.9 million from 62 international markets in its opening weekend, including $2.5 million from
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
screens. It added $15 million in its second weekend for a drop of 62%. It added $6.7 million in the third weekend, $3.3 million in its fourth, and $1.6 million in its fifth.
On June 3, 2022, Sony announced the film would return to 1,000 theaters weeks after its initial theatrical and digital release. This was largely attributed to the film's influx in attention from internet memes in the weeks prior. This decision was also met with criticism from various outlets, which speculated that the release was because Sony was unaware that the internet trend was not due to legitimate popular admiration towards the film. Upon its re-release the film performed very poorly, making only $85,000 on the day it was released, with many outlets claiming the film
bombed for a second time. After a dismal $300,000 weekend performance in its re-release—a $289 per-theater average—Sony pulled the film entirely from theaters.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 16% based on 275 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Cursed with uninspired effects, rote performances, and a borderline nonsensical story, this dreary mess is a vein attempt to make ''Morbius'' happen."
It ranks as the 16th worst-reviewed superhero movie on the site.
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
assigned the film a
weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 55 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Indo-Asian News Service
Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. Their main offices are located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The se ...
described the film as having been "utterly ravaged" by critics, and ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' reported reception as being "comically bad". Jonathon Crump of ''
Manchester Evening News
The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...
'' reported that early reviews to the film are mixed at best, although he noted that some critics "praised the acting in the film, including Leto's performance".
''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''s Ellise Shafer also said while the reviews were negative overall, Smith "did receive some praise for his performance".
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at
PostTrak
PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios.
History
The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a film ...
gave it a 62% positive score (with an average 2.5 out of 5 stars), with 47% saying they would definitely recommend it.
The C+ score is the second-worst of any Marvel adaptation, ahead of only ''
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
'' (2015).
Reviewing the film for ''
Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators.
Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...
'', Emma Kiely felt that the "central problem of ''Morbius'' is a lazy and uninspiring script" and added that "no weight or depth is given to any character." She also noted that there is "little humor" in the film and "when it tries to make a tongue-in-cheek joke, it fails miserably." Barry Hertz of ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' panned the film, saying it "is charmless, incoherent, ugly and so aggressively stupid that it defies any attempt to shove it into the desperate 'guilty pleasure' box." Wendy Ide of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' gave the film 1 out of 5 stars, calling it an "incoherent, vampire-themed Marvel offcut." Hannah Strong of ''
Little White Lies'' also gave the film 1 out of 5 stars, describing it as "soulless, tedious filmmaking".
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' awarded the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying: "It looks like ''Morbius'' might soon cross paths with Spider-Man in one universe or another, but that would be a big step up for him, because his introductory vehicle feels more like a just-average 1990s vampire movie."
Mick LaSalle
Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broaden ...
of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' awarded the film a 3 out of 4 and called the film "briskly riveting" and a "perfect antidote to bloated ''
The Batman
Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.
Batman or The Batman may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
Characters
* Batman (Terry McGinnis)
* Batman (Thomas Wayne)
* Batman (Earth-Two)
* Batma ...
''". Chris Bumbray of ''
JoBlo.com
The JoBlo Movie Network includes a website, JoBlo.com, which focuses on news, film reviews, and movie trailers; and YouTube channels that focus on trailers, movie clips, celebrity interviews, original content, and as film distribution.
Early da ...
'' gave the film a 6 out of 10 and called it "a decent enough start for the latest addition to the Sony Spider-Man Universe" while also praising the cinematography and "horror aspects" of the plot.
Leah Greenblatt of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' gave the film a B grade, saying that Leto "hits the right notes of fear and longing in a surprisingly restrained performance".
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek is an American film critic at ''Time'', based in New York City. From 2013 to 2015, she was the principal film critic for ''The Village Voice''. She was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism.
Early life
Stephanie Zachare ...
of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' commended Leto's performance writing that it has a "quietly vibrating vulnerability". ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
''s David Rooney said the film "only intermittently matches the intensity" of Leto's performance and wrote: "It's just a shame this opening salvo takes itself too seriously to have much fun with the mayhem, despite the potential in Smith's devilish turn for amusing interplay between the antagonists." Matt Donato of ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'', who awarded the film a 5 out of 10, praised Smith's performance for providing a "colorfulness the film desperately needs", saying that his "flamboyance and spirit is the antithesis to Leto's drearily dour genius, which is a purposeful but inefficient comparison", and unfavorably compared Leto's solemn performance to Tom Hardy's "
campy
Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...
" performance in the ''Venom'' films."
The post-credits scenes also came under heavy scrutiny and became a joke in the eyes of the general public due to the failed
fan service, confusing and incoherent explanation, and dialogue. Kate Erbland of ''
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' stated, "This is confusing stuff, and the appearance of Keaton in a pair of
id-creditsscenes does little to help the sense that ''Morbius'' is mostly incoherent, or at least very at odds with whatever it's trying to say." Paul Tassi of ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' said that Adrian Toomes' motivation made little sense and opined that "
l of this seems... pretty poorly mapped out at the moment... It's more like
onystole Toomes from the MCU rather than added Morbius to the MCU, which was more the original implication." Julia Glassman of ''The Mary Sue'' found the overall reveal weak, stating, "I'm beginning to wonder if Sony just... doesn't quite ''get'' the point of
id-creditsscenes." ''
Time Outs Cathy Brennan felt that the film's "attempts" to "court an audience by dangling a potential connection" to the MCU's Spider-Man is "the worst kind of unearned fan service in a film this lacklustre."
Accolades
The film received five
Razzie Award
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
nominations for
Worst Picture
The Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture is an award given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Over the 39 ceremonies that have taken place, there have been 202 films nominated for Worst Picture and 42 ...
,
Worst Director,
Worst Actor,
Worst Supporting Actress, and
Worst Screenplay.
Internet memes
Due to its lackluster box office performance and dour critical reception, ''Morbius'' inspired various
internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
s.
''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
'' wrote that the film became "a kind of collective internet
hate watch",
with fans sharing meme
shitposts
In Internet culture, shitposting, trashposting, or funposting is the act of using an online forum or social media page to post content that is satirical and of "aggressively, ironically, and trollishly poor quality", an online analog of trash t ...
which
ironically praised it.
Following its release, the hashtag #MorbiusSweep, which jokingly claimed ''Morbius'' was the most financially and critically successful film of all time, began trending.
Claims included the film becoming the first to sell over a trillion tickets,
the first to make over a "morbillion" dollars, receiving an impossible 203% or higher approval rating (and similarly-impossible 142% or higher audience rating) from Rotten Tomatoes, and an edited screenshot of the
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
page covering the
highest-grossing films claiming ''Morbius'' had earned $352.9 trillion.
One such post made the claim that
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
, who had previously declared that superhero films were not cinema, had changed his mind after seeing the film; this fake quote was shared on Instagram by ''Morbius'' actor Tyrese Gibson under the belief it was genuine, later being deleted.
The film received a resurgence in internet memes following its release to
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
, with many involving the fake catchphrase "it's Morbin' time",
a play on the ''
Power Rangers
''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entert ...
'' catchphrase "it's Morphin' time". Users on the film's official
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
server call themselves "Morbheads",
and users engaged in "Morbin on various Discord servers by distributing
pirated
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
copies. A large number of channels on the live-streaming service
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...
began illegally hosting the entire film on repeat;
one channel, Morbius247, was banned after acquiring thousands of followers. ''Morbius'' piracy spread to other platforms, including
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, where the entire film was posted in a series of 52 two-minute long videos, compressed into a 30-second long video, and the entire script copy-and-pasted into individual tweets. On
Tumblr
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
, the entire film was compressed into a very tiny
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , see pronunciation) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on 15 June 1987. ...
file and widely spread.
Additionally, viral
fake news
Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...
posts claiming that a ''Morbius'' sequel had been greenlit as a result of the internet memes spread on Twitter, leading "''Morbius 2''" to trend on the website, in addition to the phrase "it's Morbin' time" trending on Twitter for a week.
Leto, in response to the memes, tweeted "What time is it?" and a 19-second video where he was "caught" reading a script titled ''Morbius 2: It's Morbin' Time'' "written" by himself under the pseudonym
Bartholomew Cubbins
__NOTOC__
Bartholomew Cubbins is a fictional page and the hero of two children's books by Dr. Seuss: ''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' is a children's book, written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel ...
. Following the financial failure of the rerelease, a petition was started on
Change.org
Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...
to put the film back in theaters for a third time with the claim that "we were busy that weekend".
Future
In January 2021, Leto said there was potential for Morbius to appear alongside the character
Blade
A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historic ...
in a future project, with
Mahershala Ali
Mahershala Ali (; born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore, February 16, 1974) is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named him one of th ...
cast in that role for the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
(MCU).
That December, in discussing the introduction of the
multiverse
The multiverse is a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The di ...
in ''
Spider-Man: No Way Home'' (2021), Leto said there was potential for further crossovers with his character in future films.
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
expressed interest in seeing
his version of Spider-Man from the MCU fighting Morbius in the future,
while producers
Kevin Feige
Kevin Feige ( ; born June 2, 1973) is an American film and television producer who has been the president of Marvel Studios and the primary producer of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise since 2007. The films he has produced have a combin ...
and
Amy Pascal
Amy Beth Pascal (born March 25, 1958) is an American film producer and business executive. She served as the Chairperson of the Motion Pictures Group of Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony P ...
confirmed interest in a potential film starring both Leto and Ali.
In March 2022, Leto also expressed interest in a future film featuring Morbius appearing alongside
Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
, portrayed by Tom Hardy.
During CinemaCon 2022, Sony announced numerous Marvel projects. Some outlets noted that while ''
Venom 3
''Venom: Let There Be Carnage'' is a 2021 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Venom (character), Venom, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment, Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Rele ...
'' and ''
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse'' (2024) were announced, there was no announcement for a ''Morbius'' sequel, leaving the character's future in question.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Daniel Espinosa
2020s English-language films
2020s monster movies
2020s superhero films
2022 science fiction action films
4DX films
American superhero films
American vampire films
Columbia Pictures films
Film and television memes
Films about bats
Films about genetic engineering
Films about scientists
Films based on works by Roy Thomas
Films directed by Daniel Espinosa
Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films produced by Avi Arad
Films produced by Lucas Foster
Films produced by Matt Tolmach
Films scored by Jon Ekstrand
Films set in Costa Rica
Films set in Greece
Films set in New York City
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Films shot in Greater Manchester
Films shot in London
Films with screenplays by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless
IMAX films
Internet memes introduced in 2022
Internet memes
ScreenX films
Sony's Spider-Man Universe
Superhero crossover films
2020s American films