Morbius Pulls in a Meager $300k at Box Office, Flops Again

Sony’s attempt to capitalize on Morbius’ internet craze, and to re-release it in theaters, has turned to dust.

Forbes reported that Morbius was screened in 1,037 theaters but could only collect $300,000 at the box office. The reviews for the movie on Rotten Tomatoes remain harsh, with critics’ ratings sitting at only 17%.

The bid to revive Morbius seems to be a marketing strategy to jump on the meme bandwagon.

While the movie received a below-average response from fans and critics alike, the internet culture of fans making fun of anything and everything made Morbius quite a trending topic.

Unfortunately, just because people talk about it online, doesn’t necessarily mean that the same people would spend their money to watch it on a big screen. Sony has now learned it the hard way.

One meme that caught people’s attention was Leto’s clip of a Power Rangers styled-parody for the movie. In the clip, the actor was seen reading a fake Morbius script titled Morbin’ Time.

Other memes ironically claimed that Sony’s anti-hero movie was the highest-grossing movie ever, with an edited Wikipedia page reflecting the numbers to be $352 trillion in earnings. These trended with #MorbiusSweep and were filled with sarcastic achievements.

In reality, Morbius initially opened to a good enough number but fell considerably over the weekend.

It generated only $39.1 million in week one, as compared to the strong openings for other movies such as Venom and its sequel, which grossed $80 million and $90 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the run with Morbius were Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which, in its fifth week, earned $9.3 million domestically), Bob’s Burgers: The Movie, Sonic: The Hedgehog 2, and others.

The alarming numbers have made critics skeptical of any green signal for Morbius.

Leto might return as the anti-hero in other Marvel movies, but for Sony to invest in a multi-million dollar production budget for a sequel seems far-fetched.

About Morbius

Morbius is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is produced by Columbia Pictures for Sony in association with Marvel Studios.

The film stars Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist trying to treat himself for a blood disease, when he accidentally gets the infection of Vampirism.

News Source: Forbes