Sony recently announced that Marvel horror movie Morbius has been delayed by just over two months. Now, we know some of the reasoning behind this shift in release dates, and it’s the obvious one: money.
At the time of writing, Spider-Man: No Way Home is reigning supreme at the box office. The MCU movie has made over one billion dollars since opening on December 17, with little sign of slowing down. According to Deadline, Sony, keen to maintain any momentum, would like the living vampire to have as much chance it can to piggyback on this success. Thus, Morbius, starring Jared Leto, has been moved out of January, where Covid-19 cases are spiking, to April, when hopefully we’ll have seen a downturn in the spread of the virus.
Morbius stars Jared Leto as anti-hero Dr Michael Morbius, a medical professional who, in trying to treat his own degenerative blood condition, turns himself into a vampiric mutant. Cue a battle for survival against others who’re aware of his experimentation, featuring Matt Smith and Adria Arjona, and don’t want the results roaming free.
The character is a regular Spider-Man villain, and Sony has been reluctant to commit to any explicit ties to the MCU. Michael Keaton’s Vulture appears in one of the trailers, though, and Spidey himself is seen in graffiti, suggesting the connection is there.
If nothing else, expect some sort of tie-in to Venom 2, as Sony fleshes out this Spidey villains universe. Kraven the Hunter is on the way, too. Daniel Espinosa is directing Morbius, from a script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.
Morbius will be in theatres April 1, while Spider-Man: No Way Home is in cinemas now. Only time will tell if we can count the living vampire among Marvel Phase 4.