The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been dominating both fan forums and the box office for the past decade and a half. Several studios, including Sony Pictures and WB, have tried to replicate this model by trying to establish their own superhero-themed cinematic universes. The only problem with this is that they neither have the insight of Kevin Feige nor the charm of Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man. This is evidenced by the last weekend’s box office numbers. While The Batman and Sonic 2 continue their relatively strong theatrical runs, SSU’s new release Morbius bombs at the box office in fantastic fashion. Was this a project that was doomed to fail from the start? Let’s look at the numbers and find out why Morbius bombs at the box office:
The Batman made a total of USD 10.5 million on the domestic market over the weekend, bringing its worldwide total to $710 million. It is interesting to see that the Robert Pattinson movie is performing so well at the box office since it is DC’s third iteration of the character of Batman over the last decade. Still, the character has always been a cash cow for the studio and the latest numbers come as no surprise to the fans. It is also interesting to note that The Batman has made almost the same money in the international market as it has in the domestic market. The gross collection of the film in the international market only exceeds the domestic collection by a measly 12 million USD. Sonic 2 was released overseas and has already made USD 25.2 million ahead of its April 8 domestic release.
Morbius Bombs At The Box Office
But the main attraction of the box office this weekend was supposed to be Sony’s Morbius which is performing sub-par for a Marvel movie. Morbius made a grand total of USD 84 million in all markets on its opening weekend. Out of this, $39.1 million came from the domestic box office while USD 44.9 million was collected courtesy of the international release. This is the 4th worse opening for any Marvel movie ever that was loosely related to the MCU. Sony should not be happy with this performance but sources show that the performance is on track with the studios’ expectations.
After last week’s premiere and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 17% it was expected that the movie will pull anywhere from $40 – $50 million. Sony had projected this revenue after the review bomb and that is exactly what they received. It comes as no surprise that fans did not like this alternate take on the Marvel character, considering how obscure Marvel’s vampires really are. Still, Venom and Let There Be Carnage had performed really well for the SSU and this had set some unrealistic expectations for the fans of the franchise.
Venom was treated to USD 80 million domestic openings while Let There Be Carnage made $90 million in its domestic opening. Even the total opening collection of Venom ($205 million) is considered an anomaly for SSU and the studio is keenly aware of this. They have adjusted their forecasts for upcoming projects such as Kraven The Hunter and Madame Web and now have more realistic revenue targets for the said projects. But we worry if Sony will accept this defeat and stop or continue to strive to make better marvel movies.
The Future
The Future of this franchise seems rather bleak with the current performance, but there is a chance that these Spider-Man characters will be able to revive Sony’s franchise of marvel characters. How and when this will happen is anyone’s guess. We don’t think it will be easy but Morbius is already fighting an uphill battle so it will serve sony well to take this as a learning rather than as a defeat.
However, one cannot be sure of what the future holds. We hope to see Sony turn around the negative reviews and make something that rallies the fans behind them. It is unclear whether that can happen through the next few movies or not. We will have to wait for the promotional material to see what they have in store for us. Let us know what you think about this down in the comments and keep watching this space for everything Marvel, DC, and Hollywood. Excelsior!!!
Morbius bombs at the box office, did you ever think that this movie will go flop? let us know down in the comments.
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