Jared Leto's 'Morbius' tops domestic box office
According to Reuters, "Morbius" opened in first place at the domestic box office, although ticket sales were noticeably softer than those of recent superhero blockbusters.
Influenced by comically horrific reviews, "Morbius" grossed $39.1 million from 4,268 North American theaters in its first weekend of release. This initial tally is at once a sign that audiences really like comic book movies (in times of pandemic, a non-superhero film with 17% on Rotten Tomatoes would not stand a chance at the box office) and a sign that Not every supernatural character will be equally greeted on the big screen. (Sony's 2018 antihero origin story "Venom" was similarly panned, but still managed to score an $80 million debut at the domestic box office and $213 million in total).
"Morbius" grossed $44.9 million at the international box office, bringing its global total to $84 million. Like many Hollywood films, it is unclear when "Morbius" will reach a release date in China.
Sony spent $75 million to produce the vampire-infused "Morbius," which is less than what studios typically do for superhero blockbusters. Marketing and other promotional costs added several million more to the expenses. Since Morbius the Living Vampire—also known as Spider-Man, Batman or even Venom—introduced to a general audience in Tobey Maguire's "Spider-Man 3" and later standalone films Tom Hardy - Film industry analysts didn't expect "Morbius" to break box office records.
Still, Sonny has a lot riding on "Morbius", which stars Jared Leto as Michael Morbius, a renowned biochemist who suffers a stroke after attempting to cure himself from a rare blood disease. becomes a deadly vampire. The studio scored prominently with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (1.88 billion at the worldwide box office) and successfully turned "Venom" into cinematic gold (the first film grossed $856 million globally). and the 2021 sequel "Let There Be Carnage" grossed $501 million at the worldwide box office). But Sony has plans to fashion a viable rival to Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, and there's so much voting for "Morbius" signs that in order for audiences to head to theaters, these movies must actually be watchable. After "Morbius", Sony's Universe of Marvel characters "Craven the Hunter" as standalone stories as well starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and "Madame Webb" featuring Dakota Johnson.
Daniel Espinosa directed "Morbius", which stars Adria Arjona, Matt Smith, Jared Harris and Michael Keaton, reprising their roles from the previous "Spider-Man" films.
Given the muted reception from critics and moviegoers (it received a "C+ CinemaScore"), box office experts don't expect "Morbius" to have a successful life on the big screen. It will face stiff competition from young male ticket buyers in the form of "Sonic". The Hedgehog 2" (April 8) and "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" (April 15) open in theaters.
"It's a weak start by Marvel's extraordinary standard for launching a new superhero series," said David A. Gross, who runs movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. He continued, "Marvel movies generally get very good reviews; here the reviews are unnaturally bad."
In second place, Paramount's action-adventure "The Lost City" raked in a strong $14.8 million from 4,283 locations in its second weekend of release. The screwball romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum has so far earned $54.5 million at the domestic box office. Since the film cost $68 million, "The Lost City" is not yet a commercial winner. However, it's a promising sign that the meet-cutes aren't entirely in favor of moviegoers.
Another comic book tentpole with Robert Pattinson, "The Batman" came in third place with $10.8 million from 3,732 theaters. After five weeks on the big screen, the Warner Bros. film has raked in a whopping $349 million at the domestic box office. Crossing $700 million over the weekend, "The Batman" continues to be a worldwide force. The film's worldwide total is now $710.5 million.
For the second consecutive weekend, Tom Holland's video game adaptation "Uncharted" and Crunchyroll's manga adaptation "Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie" took four and five spots, respectively, on the box office charts.
"Uncharted" grossed $3.6 million from 3,064 theaters, raising its North American number to $138.9 million. Overseas, tentpoles with a budget of $120 million added $5.5 million from 55 markets. This takes the number of "uncharted" to $234 million internationally and $373 million globally.