Morbius Re-Release Went Exactly How We All Suspected It Would
Sometimes, a movie will get a re-release because the fans demanded it. Other times, a movie will get released for a second time because a studio misinterpreted the intent behind a viral meme. Guess which one happened for "Morbius," which received another chance at an opening weekend?
To catch everyone up, "Morbius" is a Marvel property owned by Sony — ostensibly a part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe of Marvel Characters. The first film in the already-floundering franchise follows Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) as he attempts to cure himself of a disease with chemically altered bat blood. Perhaps unsurprisingly, instead of becoming healthy and whole, Morbius is transformed into a blood-thirsty vampire with "Rick and Morty" eyes. Shenanigans ensue.
Originally released in April of 2022, "Morbius" was, to put it mildly, not well received. Critics universally trashed it, citing everything from bad performances to awful writing to poor CGI. Its aggregate Rotten Tomatoes critics score currently sits at 19%. On the other hand, audiences seem to have enjoyed it for what it was: a simple popcorn flick. In the intervening weeks between then and now, a meme arose from the ashes of "Morbius" that gave disenchanted fans something to laugh about and Sony something to desperately latch onto.
And latch it did — whoo, boy.
Morbius is a bomb ... again
According to Yahoo! Life, "Morbius" was re-released in 1,037 theaters and made approximately $85,000. While that kind of money could change the average person's life, it's hardly a drop in the bucket for an intended blockbuster. On average, that amount translates to less than $300 per theater, and with the standard movie ticket costing around (or above) $10, that means, at most, 30 people saw it at any given location. For comparison, according to Box Office Mojo, the first opening for "Morbius" made approximately $39 million, and even that was considered low. On the opposite end of the spectrum, at the same time that "Morbius" re-released, "Top Gun: Maverick" earned a muscular $86 million as part of its second, slower weekend.
In case the full scope of how embarrassing this really is hasn't settled in yet, the meme that Sony assumed would herald a resurgence for their failed Marvel property is literally a fake catchphrase making fun of how bad the movie is. Fans pretended that the vampire would say "it's morbin' time" before doing anything remotely vampiric.
Imagine reading that sentence and deciding to invest real money into it. You can't write this stuff.