Despite reports to the contrary, it seems that it’s not, in fact, Morbin’ Time as Sony’s re-release of its infamous Spider-Man spinoff movie has not gone to plan. In the wake of atrocious reviews and weak earnings, Morbius looked set to be swiftly forgotten. But then something magical happened. Against all the odds, the flop found a whole new appreciation on social media, with Jared Leto’s bloodsucking doctor becoming the king of memes.
Given the surprising afterlife of the Living Vampire, then, Sony took notice and thought they might be able to capitalize on it by sending the movie back to theaters this weekend. Unfortunately, it turns out that memes don’t equate to movie tickets as, to the surprise of absolutely no one outside of the studio’s boardroom, Morbius has bombed yet again at the box office.
Morbius was screened in 1,037 theaters this weekend and totally failed to suck away the lifeblood from current chart-toppers Top Gun: Maverick and rival Marvel production Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As per Forbes, the Daniel Espinosa effort brought home just $85,000 across the board this Friday. That racks its overall domestic gross up to a measly $73.6 million. Plus, its pitiful $270 per-theater average sends it to the very bottom of the weekend’s top 20.
Morbius-mania was fun for a while there, but it’s possible the bubble has burst now that it’s been co-opted by the studio. Jared Leto’s own Morbius 2: It’s Morbin’ Time tease went down about as well as your dad trying to make a TikTok reference, and this second failure in theaters makes it seems highly unlikely that a sequel will actually receive the greenlight. Vamps have a tendency to be difficult to kill off, though, so you never know, Leto may yet sink his fangs into the role again sometime.
