Image: Sony Pictures / Marvel
Sony and Marvel’s Morbius has been an internet meme for the past few weeks, and most of it is fun. Seeing this, Sony came to the conclusion that the re-release of Jared Leto’s film this weekend in the hope that all the nonsense on the Internet would translate into a bigger box office. And if you were among those who wondered if the joke had gone too far and we would have been ironic in a Morbius 2, somehow, that would serve as good news to alleviate your fears.
To be quite blunt: the film bombarded the first day back in theaters. According to Scott Mendelson of Forbes, Friday’s Morbius returns only reached a meager $ 85,000, bringing the total to $ 73.6 million at home. Saturday’s gains have yet to be revealed at the time of writing, but the odds aren’t exactly in his favor. All these jokes were just about the idea of Morbius and not about the movie itself, which Sony learned the hard way. His attempt to get into the joke not only proved counterproductive, but exploded in such a way that even Michael Bay was impressed by the pure and stupid spectacle of it all.
What happens with Morbius and his rise to a meme is that it all took off because no one had much faith in the movie to begin with. We’re all aware that Sony is basically throwing darts at a wall to find out what people want to see with the Spider-Man side cast, a list that is basically on its knees for the jump because they inevitably have to brush their shoulders or recognize the teen web boss. question. Tom Hardy’s Venom movies are enough to make you temporarily forget that you could ever try to devour Tom Holland’s Spidey, but that’s only because comics have spent years giving the character their own weird, sticky mythology with the hope to give enough material to future films. to avoid having to deal with the Dutch agent. Meanwhile, other characters like Morbius, Kraven, and Madame Web have yet to have a real, consistent chance to distance themselves from the incredible arachnid of the original material.
Yes, Sony was very lucky with the Venom Spider-Verse movies and Miles Morales, but both characters already had a strong integrated fan base to begin with, not to mention what they set out to achieve each of the their respective films. Spider-Verse movies have a unique animation style and genuine seriousness that embarrasses almost every other superhero content, and Venom makes Tom Hardy talk to himself and be hit by an aggressive passive monster. Morbius doesn’t have one, and he couldn’t even make the most of his lead actor being a musician. Say whatever you want from Venom, at least he managed to summon a cheesy song to play on the final titles that will then end up on Spotify for longer than you’d like to admit.
RIP in Morbius, Morbius. You died the way you lived, like a joke that realized too late that you yourself were the focus.
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