The idea of a follow-up to Sony’s critically reviled Spider-Man spinoff has been revived because of Morbius’ unexpected success on Netflix. Without any prior publicity, the movie debuted on Netflix and immediately moved up the list of the top 10 movies available on the streaming site. The famed “Morbin’ Time” meme may be the cause of many of these views, but the staggering numbers could be enough to persuade Sony to give Jared Leto’s antihero another chance.
Morbius had a dismal opening weekend gross of barely $39 million, which wasn’t a complete failure given the movie’s $75 million budget. It also garnered negative reviews from critics and consumers. The figures are subpar, though, when compared to Venom, a Spider-Man villain film that made the majority of its $100 million budget back in its debut weekend with a total of $80.2 million. Even worse, Sony decided to rerelease the movie after the “It’s Morbin’ Time” meme went viral, which resulted in a dismal $ 300,000-weekend box office haul for Morbius. Given that Morbius is currently Netflix’s second-most-watched movie, it’s very feasible that renewed interest may prompt Sony to approve the Morbius sequel.
In contrast to Venom, which introduced Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady, a.k.a. Carnage, at the middle of the credits, Morbius instead brought Michael Keaton’s Vulture into Sony’s Spider-Man-related universe. Instead of Morbius 2, Sony’s Sinister Six team-up movie seems to be the one being set up in the scene starring Jared Leto and Michael Keaton. With the 2023 release of Aaron Taylor-Kraven Johnson’s the Hunter, Sinister Six is still certainly moving forward. There are currently no plans for Morbius 2, although there are ideas for Madame Web, another Venom sequel, and a spinoff movie starring superhero wrestler El Muerto. Sony could be holding off on producing more Morbius until they see how well these other Spider-Man-related films do at the box office. During this interim period, Netflix may have exposed a possible new audience to the first film, which may now be sufficient to boost the box office potential and obtain studio approval for Morbius 2.
Morbius 2 Is More Likely To Happen On Netflix
Morbius 2 is not presently on Sony’s list of forthcoming Spider-Man-related films between now and June 2024, which is all that is known about it. The last moments of Morbius imply that a sequel would show Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) adjusting to her new vampire physiology and either becoming Michael’s ally or enemy. Additionally, it would probably expand upon Adrian Toomes’ and Michael Morbius’ mid-credits decision to “do some good.”
Given that they were murdered in the first film, Jared Harris and Matt Smith, who played Dr. Nicholas and Milo, are unlikely to appear in the sequel. Jared Harris’ character could appear in flashbacks as a mentor of sorts, but it’s doubtful that he will play a significant part in Morbius 2. Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius would most certainly return for a sequel since Sony wouldn’t have hired him for just one film, regardless of how terrible the first one did. Leto may have signed a deal akin to the three-movie pact that Tyrese Gibson, who portrayed Simon Stroud, revealed on Instagram. It makes sense for Simon Stroud to appear in upcoming films as the character frequently appeared in the Morbius comics.
Morbius received 6,971,428 Netflix streams between September 5 and 11, with a total of 12,200,000 hours of viewing, propelling it into the Top 5. The amount of streams equates to a total of $66,716,565.96 with an average movie theatre ticket price of $9.57, which is a huge increase over Morbius’ first opening weekend gross of $39 million. These encouraging figures could tempt Sony, but it would be wise for them to learn from the mistakes made with “It’s Morbin’ Time.” Sony’s disastrous decision to rerelease Morbius based on an internet meme served as an example of how companies struggle to comprehend internet subcultures. Big box office figures are not always guaranteed by jokes on Twitter or a humorous Jared Leto video on Instagram. It may be argued that the “It’s Morbin’ Time” meme evolved to the point that people would have lost the humor if they had seen the entire movie.
The mismatch between streams and hours seen can be explained by the likelihood that a large portion of Netflix views is being driven by Morbin’s Time. With a 104-minute duration, the over 7 million streams equal 12,083,808 hours, which is barely shy of the total watching time reported by Netflix. People rewatching important parts to produce visuals that will become memes are probably responsible for the extra time. Therefore, it would be risky for Sony to build a Morbius sequel only on these Netflix numbers. However, if the movie is developing a “so awful, it’s good” reputation as a result of its new life on Netflix, this cult status may be precisely what Morbius 2 needs to boost box office receipts and make the Jared Leto-starring sequel a reality.
