Sony Pictures’ Marvel adaptation “Morbius” landed with dismal reviews but still managed to debut with $39.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday
By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer
April 3, 2022, 6:02 PM
• 3 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this article
NEW YORK — Sony Pictures’ Marvel adaptation “Morbius” landed with dismal reviews but still managed to debut with $39.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That was enough to easily hand “Morbius,” starring Jared Leto as a vampire-transforming biochemist, the top spot at the box office — even though it was an uncharacteristically low debut for a Marvel movie. Sony’s last movie to launch a Marvel character, 2018’s “Venom,” opened in 2018 with double the ticket sales.
But “Morbius” also drew unusually bad reviews for a Marvel release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it sits with easily the worst score for a Marvel film at 17% fresh. “Venom” (30%) wasn’t a hit with critics, either. But given that forecasts had ranged closer to a $50 million opening weekend for “Morbius,” the poor word-of-mouth and worse reviews likely cut into its receipts.
“This is a weak opening by Marvel’s exceptional standard for launching a new superhero series,” said David A. Gross, who runs the consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “The weekend figure is well below average for a Marvel first episode, and below average compared with a DC Comics new series, as well.”
Still, “Morbius,” delayed several times by the pandemic, was budgeted somewhat modestly for a comic-book film, costing $75 million to produce. Audiences also gave it a low grade — C+ from CinemaScore — though moviegoers still seemed to like it more than critics. The audience score from Rotten Tomatoes for the Daniel Espinosa-directed film is 69% fresh.
Overseas, “Morbius” grossed $44.9 million over the weekend, for an $84 million global haul.
Still, it will be hard for…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at ABC News: US…