Jared Leto’s ‘Morbius’ Bites Off A Solid $17 Million Friday

“That was the worst end credits scene ever! Did he forget about the movie he was just in?”

That was the unbiased critical reaction to Morbius from my ten-year-old after an early afternoon showing. Long story short, he didn’t want to partake in yesterday’s official road trip vacation activities, so I offered to stay back with him if he helped me run a few errands and catch a noon showing of Morbius. Yes, I took my son to Sony’s latest Marvel movie as punishment. Because, to quote both Angela Bassett and Henry Cavill in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, “That’s the job.”

He didn’t hate the film, but he knew enough to know that it wasn’t quite Black Panther or Aquaman. He certainly didn’t care for the barely-there ending and the two hilarious mid-credit cookies. Honestly, these tidbits (which I will not reveal) and the mid-credit bits in both Venom: Let There Be Carnage (“Hey, Venom just got zapped into the MCU!”) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (“Wait, never mind, Venom has been zapped out of the MCU!”) further convinces me that Sony is using these arbitrary bluffs entirely to prank/troll the comic book superhero think piece industrial complex. If that’s the case, bravo!

Anyway, after a delay of almost two years, during which the trailers for Morbius played before almost every single theatrical feature at least from March 2021 until today, Sony’s latest “Universe of Marvel Characters” flick opened with $17.01 million on Friday. That includes $5.7 million in Thursday previews, meaning that 33.5% of the film’s opening day came from previews. Throw in overwhelmingly negative reviews (16% fresh and 3.8/10 on Rotten Tomatoes), an alleged C+ from Cinemascore and the lack of true must-see buzz, and I’m guessing we’re looking at an opening weekend closer to $41 million than $50 million.

Sony had been projecting $33 million, an obvious undershoot in terms of managing expectations. The last time we had a big(ish) comic book movie with buzz like this was arguably Fantastic Four. That critically trashed (9% and 3.6/10) reboot was tracking for a $40 million debut in August of 2015 only to open with $26 million. Moreover, even if Morbius will probably earn less in total than Venom and Venom 2 earned on their respective opening weekends ($80 million in 2018 and $90 million in 2021), the film cost just $75 million. It doesn’t have to break records to break even.

As sadly expected, Morbius is pretty awful, full of taped-together plotting, missing contextual scenes, an indifference to committing to its genre (a vampire horror flick, natch) and mostly dull performances from a strong cast. It is the film is we all expected/feared Venom would be in late 2018. While I’m not huge on either Venom flick, that franchise was “saved” by a go-for-broke Tom Hardy performance, a surprisingly farcical sense of humor and its oddly unassuming nature as stand-alone “just a movie” flicks even amid obvious cinematic universe designs. At least Let There Be Carnage commits to its body horror rom-com sensibilities.

As bad as the Daniel Espinosa-directed film is, and it makes Venom look like Wonder Woman, the likely “successful enough to dodge a bullet” result is another example of Tom Rothman’s “blockbusters on a budget.” These recent $75-$120 million tentpoles (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Uncharted, Venom, etc.) don’t require record-breaking grosses (or big bucks in China) to cross into profitability. That’s not to say that Morbius is a “hit,” at least not until we see the overseas earnings and post-debut legs, but at worst we just won’t get a Morbius in the Big Balloon Adventure.

Focus Features released Goran Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone into limited release this weekend. Focus Features released the acclaimed (93% fresh and 7.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes) Noomi Rapace-led supernatural chiller, about a young witch who kills a peasant and takes her identity to experience life as a “normal” human being, debuted in 147 theaters. It earned $50,000 on Friday for a likely $120,000 weekend and $816 per-theater average. That’s a non-starter, and I’d argue the theatrical release is a glorified marketing campaign for its PVOD debut in a few weeks. That’s not a criticism, as it may be “the new normal” for small-scale films.

Chris Pine gave an interview noting that, as we’ve said for years, Star Trek movies should be cheaper, smaller-scale sci-fi adventures that don’t require top-tier box office. He turned down a pay cut for Star Trek 4 back in 2018 and his second thoughts may be due to an even harsher playing field for a would-be movie star known for a specific marquee character. The Contractor was supposed to be a wide theatrical release until STX sold the domestic distribution rights to Paramount. The old-school actioner, about a former military man who is double-crossed by his private contractor bosses, earned just $200,000 for a likely $560,000 opening weekend in 489 theaters. It is concurrently available on PVOD.