Credit: Morbius
When Sony revealed their shared Spider-Man universe back in May 2017, there was some skepticism about building a world surrounding the iconic Marvel hero. In fact, according to The Ankle, Marvel Studios President himself, Kevin Feige, warned the executives not to get ahead of themselves and try to build their cinematic universe in the vein of the Avengers:
“And yes, Marvel’s Kevin Feige does weigh in and offers notes on Sony’s Marvel movies that don’t feature Spider-Man. One insider credits Feige for guiding Sony’s approach and warning the studio not to get too ahead of itself in terms of building some larger universe in the vein of the Avengers movies.”
However, given the level of success of the Tom Holland movies, it’s hard to blame the studio for trying to branch out the property, as Spider-Man does have a compelling universe with a set of rich characters. Sony has been trying to do a shared Spidey-verse back since the Sam Raimi films, with the studio announcing a Sinister Six feature for a May 16, 2016 release date. That was evident in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where the Andrew Garfield-led film was building towards the Sinister Six, with the ending cutting to black before Spider-Man goes to battle against Paul Giamatti’s Rhino. However, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 only made $709 million worldwide ($202.9 million domestic and $506.1 million international), and while that’s still a pretty good number, it’s the weakest box office return in the franchise.
Credit: Morbius
Ultimately, Sony and Marvel announced a partnership that allowed Spider-Man to be one of the central figures of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was first introduced in Captain America: Civil War, and his first solo outing – Spider-Man: Homecoming – featured several notable Marvel names such as Captain America and Tony Stark, making the most of the franchise point by banking $880.2 million worldwide. Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home would go on to rake in over a billion dollars at the box office. The Sony property was at a true high when it came to the Spider-Man universe, and executives hoped that would carry over to Morbius, the second solo Spider-Man spinoff – behind Tom Hardy’s Venom movies – focusing on one of Spider-Man’s prime villains.
Starring Oscar winner Jared Leto, Morbius was an origin story following the famed Vampire before he got involved with the web-slinger. The hype surrounding the film was decent until reviews dropped for Morbius. Currently standing at an abysmal 15% on rotten tomatoes, critics bashed the film for being an uninspired, nonsensical, and dreary feature that was desperately trying to get a PG-13 rating based on the lack of blood for a vampire movie. Audiences were kinder as it holds a solid 71% on the review website. Still, the box office numbers matter the most, and Morbius opened with a weak $39 million based on a budget of $75 million. It only got worse for the Jared Leto-led film, which suffered a massive 73% drop the following week and became the second worst box office drop for a superhero film behind Shaquille O’Neal’s Steel from 1997. It didn’t take long for the film to move over to digital; however, a brief hype around Morbius led to the studio re-releasing the film in June. The problem was that Sony didn’t understand the reasoning behind the film’s internet popularity because Morbius bombed for the second time, only collecting $85,000 on the first day and bringing in a total of $300,000 – a $289 per-theater average – for the full weekend. Sony pulled the plug on the film in theaters entirely. So, with Morbius being a flop, does that mean a sequel is dead?
Credit: Morbius
It sure looks like it as Sony has yet to confirm a sequel. However, it’s not uncommon for studios to greenlight sequels to massive flops. One of the most recent is the Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges action/comedy R.I.P.D, which only made $78 million against a $130 million budget. That didn’t stop Universal from making a straight-to-DVD sequel titled, R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned, though Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds are not attached to the film whatsoever. Anything is possible with Morbius, and the character could show up in future Spider-Man installments. As of now, the chances look incredibly slim, but Sony is moving along with a potential Sinister Six feature thanks to the success of the Tom Hardy-led Venom spinoffs. All eyes will be on Kraven the Hunter, starring Kick-Ass and Bullet Train’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson. That film is set to be released on January 13, 2023.
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