There are just three months to go until the second installment in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters arrives, but it wouldn’t be unfair to say that Morbius isn’t generating a whole lot of buzz. When the first trailer was released, most of the focus was placed on a background mural of Spider-Man and the surprise appearance of Michael Keaton’s Vulture rather than the footage itself.
Obviously, star Jared Leto doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to playing pale-faced comic book characters, but his divisive Joker will hopefully get a better response in Justice League than it did in Suicide Squad, something that wasn’t helped by the vast majority of his scenes being left on the cutting room floor as the studio butchered David Ayer’s vision beyond recognition.
Venom may have got the SPUMC off to a great start by raking in over $850 million at the box office, but Morbius is much more of an unknown quantity, and the marketing has a lot of work still to do in order to convince skeptical audiences or those unfamiliar with the Living Vampire to check out the movie, especially when there’s no way of telling if the theatrical industry will have rebounded in three months from now.
In a recent interview, the actor claimed that Morbius will be a lot different from the majority of other superhero flicks, and he’s certainly right. Outside of the Blade trilogy and 30 Days of Night, there haven’t been many comic book adaptations that place a vampire front and center, with Leto explaining:
“It’s a Jekyll and Hyde story that’s just big and fun, and sometimes is a little scary, which is, I think, different for that genre. And I’m excited about it. That should be a big, fun popcorn movie.”
If Morbius fails to catch on at the box office, then it puts the SPUMC in a perilous position, with Sony’s expansive worldbuilding plans potentially taking a massive hit. But at least they’d still have Venom: Let There Be Carnage to fall back on in the worst case scenario.
Published: Jan 1, 2021 09:46 am