Ironically for a movie about a vampire, the nails were being hammered into Morbius‘ coffin long before the latest installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe hit theaters on Friday, where it was promptly trashed by critics and blasted by fans who once again find themselves in disbelief at the studio’s approach to Marvel blockbusters.
Director Daniel Espinosa doesn’t seem to have a clue what’s going on, and it’s clear that Morbius was torn apart and stitched back together in post-production, given the volume of footage released to the public during the marketing campaign that was conspicuously absent from the theatrical cut.
And yet, Jared Leto’s disastrous attempt at rehabilitating his image in the eyes of comic book supporters after his polarizing turn as the Joker in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad has still managed to become the most popular film on the planet this weekend.
It hasn’t quite managed to reach $40 million, but Morbius hauled in a decent enough $39.1 million domestically, with a $45 million international bow bringing it up to $84 million after three days on the big screen. The reported budget for the project is $75 million, so the dismal supernatural superhero spectacular may end up turning a profit, even if it won’t become a monster-sized commercial success.
Most folks were expecting it to be bad, so technically it didn’t disappoint either, yet another very minor positive for one of the pandemic’s longest-delayed efforts. 21 months behind schedule, an unsuspecting world has been treated to Morbius at long last, and they’ve responded by launching it to the top of the box office charts.