The uphill Morbius: The Living Vampire battle might be taking an unexpected turn for what many assumed would be a Marvel Cinematic Miss for Sony. Hey, that’s show business, baby.
The Jared Leto-starring picture — in which he vamps out because he can’t stand to not pile on the makeup or prosthetics — has answered to absolutely brutal reactions and the dubious most-delayed movie record of the pandemic. Granted, the masses had a lot of fun with this advance fallout because Leto irked plenty of people with his Worst Joker, so a 19% rotten was something that people loved to see.
Add that to an oddly selected release date (April 1), and none of this boded well for the brilliant-scientist-turned-bloodsucker story, which critics called “bad” and “sloppy” with “insulting” post-credit scenes from a comic-book lover standpoint. However, there’s a new wrinkle in the equation: moviegoers carried Morbius to a surprisingly solid Thursday night preview. As The Hollywood Reporter reveals, things look “promising”:
Jared Leto’s new movie Morbius — centering on the character known as “The Living Vampire” in the Marvel comic books from whence he hails — flew to a promising $5.7 million in Thursday previews at the domestic box office.
The Sony pic could open anywhere from $33 million to $40 million-plus for the weekend. The studio is being uber cautious and stressing the $33 million estimate. Insiders at Sony note that Morbius isn’t a traditional superhero pic, but more of a genre film based on one of the many Marvel characters Sony holds the rights to.
And that’s led so some semi-guilty sounding reactions on Twitter, including, “No it’s not an April Fools, I genuinely really liked Morbius.”
No it’s not an April Fools, I genuinely really liked Morbius
— DriiftyFilm
(@driiftyfilm) April 1, 2022
This is not a standalone take, either. People are pouring in, wondering if they are “crazy” for liking Morbius and asking why the movie got slammed so hard. Granted, this will be no billion-dollar movie, but hey, to each their own when it comes to vampire flicks.
I feel like everyone is shitting on Morbius because it’s not an MCU movie but I actually liked it. Going to see it a second time tonight. Anytime blue check marks hate a movie you know it’s gonna be good. #Morbius #JaredLeto #Marvel
— NERDXCORE (@NERDXCORE1) April 1, 2022
You lot are seriously underrating #Morbius
I actually quite liked it and as a matter of fact I thought I was pretty good just too short but no where near the same time problem as Venom 2
— Josef (@master_2187) April 1, 2022
Folks really didn’t like Morbius… I kinda liked it
— Dreux’s Reviews (@DREUXSUAVE) April 1, 2022
Well not sure why Morbius wasn’t liked, I found it pretty awesome
— BROWNTOPINK (@browntopink) April 1, 2022
Morbius was better than expected. I had low expectations going in!
I actually… gulp… liked Leto in the role! He sold me on the change from sickness to vampire. The vamp effects were kind of cool!
The final battle was a let down and the movie got a little lost, but I had fun.
— David (@QuoteDCraven) April 1, 2022
Morbius was better than expected. I had low expectations going in!
I actually… gulp… liked Leto in the role! He sold me on the change from sickness to vampire. The vamp effects were kind of cool!
The final battle was a let down and the movie got a little lost, but I had fun.
— David (@QuoteDCraven) April 1, 2022
Just saw Morbius and it wasn’t that bad lol! I think it wouldn’t be getting as bad reviews if it wasn’t for Jared Leto
I liked the effects and how they showed his powers. Tho the post credits scenes are yeah wtf, idk how they plan to tie that with anything but okay lmao
—
Mika ( • )( • )ԅ(‾⌣‾ԅ)
(@mikazure) April 1, 2022
I’ll die on the pedestal of being the one guy on Twitter who liked Morbius
— Joe (@JoeDuryea1) April 1, 2022
Still can’t get over the fact that I liked Morbius more than The Batman
— Nicus Studios (@NicusStudios) April 1, 2022
I hate to say this but, I kinda liked ‘Morbius’. It wasn’t very good but it wasn’t very bad either. It was okay. I can say that Venom 2 was way worse ahaha.
— Stephan (@StephanScoop) April 1, 2022
(Via Hollywood Reporter)