Sony's experiment of putting a panned film back in theaters because of social media pressure has turned out to be a failure. In recent weeks, Marvel fans had been calling for Sony to make a sequel to Morbius despite the film's underwhelming box office performance and lackluster reviews. As more and more fans jumped onto the movement, Sony seemingly theorized that the newfound attention on Morbius would have people spending money to see it should it head back to the big screen.Now, it seems that the majority of those taking part in the Morbius movement weren't being quite so serious. Even with the film screening in more than 1000 theaters in North America, Morbius has come up with $300,000 for the weekend. It made $85K on Friday, putting it at an average of $82 grossed per theater. The film did not come close to cracking the top ten list for the weekend's highest-grossing films and has not turned out to be worth the investment of orchestrating the re-release.Morbius was directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. It stars Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, a man who becomes a "living vampire" after a blood transfusion gone awry. The film is based on the Marvel Comics character and is a part of Sony's Marvel Universe with the Venom films and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web. It has gotten a worldwide box office haul of just over $163 million which can be considered underwhelming when compared to most other superhero movies released in recent years. The reviews were abysmal with Morbius scoring a 17% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and that certainly didn't help matters.
Jared Leto Has Had Some Fun With the Morbius Campaign
The odds are seemingly against Morbius getting a sequel, given that it did not reach the box office success that Sony had been hoping for. It's not like Venom, which conversely performed much better than what Sony had expected, resulting in the sequel Venom: There Will Be Carnage. Having Morbius return to theaters with even more disastrous results probably solidifies the potential sequel getting buried. But that doesn't mean Jared Leto hasn't had some fun with the recent social media attention on the film.
In a video posted online, Leto can be seen reading a screenplay, though he at first acts like he doesn't want the viewers to see what he's looking at. The cover of the screenplay is soon revealed to be Morbius 2: It's Morbin' Time, a reference to the ways fans on social media have been joking about getting a sequel. While Leto and Sony were certainly hoping for better results with Morbius, it may still be fun for Marvel fans to see the actor having a sense of humor about the situation. You can check out that post below.
Catch Morbius in theaters while you still can.