NEW YORK – Sony Pictures’ Marvel adaptation, “Morbius,” landed with dismal reviews but could still debut with a ticket sales of $39.1 million, according to studio estimates. movie on Sunday.
That was enough to easily put Morbius, starring Jared Leto as a biochemist transformed into a vampire, to a box office spot – although it was an unusually low debut for a Marvel movie. Sony’s last film to feature a Marvel character, 2018’s “Venom,” opened in 2018 with double ticket sales.
But “Morbius” also received unusually bad reviews for a Marvel release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it easily has the worst score for a Marvel movie at 17, nor a hit with critics. But since predictions have hovered close to the $50 million opening weekend for “Morbius,” poor word of mouth and worse reviews will likely cut into the film’s box office.
“This is a weak opening by Marvel’s exceptional standards to launching a new superhero franchise,” said David A. Gross, who runs consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “The weekend numbers are well below average for a Marvel first episode and also below average for a new DC Comics series.”
However, “Morbius”, which has been delayed several times by the pandemic, was budgeted a bit modestly for a comic book movie, with a production cost of $75 million. Audiences also gave it a low score – C+ from CinemaScore – although moviegoers still liked it better than critics. The audience score from Rotten Tomatoes for the Daniel Espinosa-directed film is 69%.
Overseas, “Morbius” grossed $44.9 million over the weekend, for a global cume of $84 million.
Even so, it will be difficult for “Morbius” to come close to Sony’s recent Marvel successes. The final two seasons were both box office hits: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” grossed nearly $1.9 billion worldwide, while last year’s “Venom 2” grossed $502 million worldwide. Global.
Last week’s top film, Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum’s romantic adventure, “The Lost City,” slid to second place with $14.8 million in its second week. With a two-week total of $54.6 million, “The Lost City” is doing much better than other recent films in the genre.
After the Oscars, Apple put the award-winning “CODA” with best picture in more than 500 theaters. The film, which debuted on Apple TV+ last August, became the first film from a streaming service to ever receive Hollywood’s top honor. Apple did not share ticket sales figures on Sunday, making “CODA” the first winner for best picture without any recorded US box office revenue.
Also against “Morbius”: The box office is getting busier and busier. While there are no new broad releases other than Sony’s release this weekend, the coming weeks will bring the releases of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, “Ambulance” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore.” The next Marvel movie, “Doctor Strange in Madness’s Multiverse,” coming from Walt Disney Co. on May 6.
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According to Comscore, ticket sales are estimated Friday through Sunday in theaters in the US and Canada. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. “Morbius,” $39.1 million.
2. “The Lost City,” $14.8 million.
3. “Batman”, 10.8 million USD.
4. “Uncharted”, $3.6 million.
5. “Jujutsu Kaisen 0,” $1.9 million.
6. “RRR”, $1.6 million.
7. “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, $1.4 million.
8. “The Dog”, $1.3 million.
9. “X,” $1 million.
10. “Anywhere Anytime,” $1 million.
