Why did Marvel’s Morbius bomb at the box office?

Now that it’s been a while, it is safe to say that Morbius bombed spectacularly at the box office. The Jared Leto-starrer has recorded one of the lowest openings for a Marvel film in recent years.

Morbius opened at the domestic and international box office with $39.1 million and $44.9 million respectively. The current worldwide box office collection stands at $84 million. In comparison, the two Fantastic Four films as well as The Incredible Hulk did better at the box office.

In fact, we could compare it to DC’s Bird of Prey, which also bombed big at the box office, collecting a lifetime worldwide gross of $201 million.

But we’re not going to compare Morbius with other films to illustrate how bad it flopped. The question is, why and how are some Marvel movies doing so poorly at the box office? It is hard to pinpoint just one reason, but I will still try.

For starters, I did not even hear about Morbius from any of my friends who are MCU geeks. They were not even talking about it. Their social media had no posts at all and nobody seems to be bothered by the fact that the film bombed.

This is surprising to me because I have seen them post and discuss other Marvel films at length. For instance, the hype about Morbius was not even close to what we can see about the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

That brings me to my pinpoint reason: Marvel’s lesser-known or new characters do not have the same popularity or excitement around them as the other Marvel characters we’re familiar with.

What went wrong with Morbius?

The problem here is probably not just with Morbius, but with recent Marvel films in general. If you observe closely, you can see a pattern here. Many of the recent Marvel films, such as Eternals, Shang-Chi, and Black Widow, have all tanked at the box office.

On the other hand, MCU also has a humongous hit like No Way Home. So, basically, those who went to see No Way Home obviously did not go to see the other Marvel films.

So, maybe the problem is with the lack of solid characters, proper build-up to their origin, and how fizzled out they seem when compared to the OG iconic MCU characters.

It may be that Morbius did not really interest fans as much because it is based on a lesser-known character with little to no backstory or solid promotion. Though Sony has lately been trying hard to build its Spider-Man Universe with films like Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

It might also be the case that Morbius is not as good a film as people have come to expect from the MCU. It is high time we stop assuming a brand to be so monopolistic that by its sheer name, it can deliver a hit, if the material presented is not up to the mark.

The audience has proved again and again that just the DC or Marvel tag is not enough. There has to be solid content which makes the film worth it. The Morbius reviews clearly indicate that the film had neither a coherent script nor a proper structure.

Why are Morbius reviews so bad?

Well, there’s just one way to answer this question: Morbius was bad! The film lacked a solid structure or a coherent script. It already was pretty rushed and missed a good release date, which probably affected the quality of the film.

The timeline and characterization were heavily compromised and the film was poorly edited.

In conclusion, the film itself was too weak to garner any attention and suffered due to extremely poor word of mouth. Most reviews state the problem of it being too invested in the Spider-Man Universe and not having anything original.

What could be done differently?

For starters, perhaps Marvel could make better films and not try to rely on just its brand name. Sony should definitely have paid more attention to promotion and marketing for the film. Besides, the release date could have been better thought out.

Apart from that, Marvel should focus on solid storylines and good scripts rather than just banking on past glory and borrowing from the shared universe. With Morbius, the character could have been better introduced and more focus could have been put on his characterization. The film did poorly with the audience because it was not good. It’s as simple as that.

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.