Morbius memes its way back into theaters, tanks again

Despite the best efforts of Sony and the internet, it apparently is still not Morbin’ time.

It’s been a couple months since Morbius flew into theaters back on April 1, and never has an April Fool’s Day release day felt more on point. Despite being the next movie in Sony’s ever-expanding Spider-Man villain universe, having a pair of well-known stars in Jared Leto (Morbius) and Matt Smith (Hunger), and being tangentially tied to the MCU epic Spider-Man: No Way Home, Morbius flopped hard. It had a decent opening weekend at $39 million, but by the time it limped out of theaters it had generated just $73 million at the domestic box office, not even doubling that opening weekend take. It was panned by critics and fans alike, receiving a pretty harsh CinemaScore of C+.

Generally, it has been accepted that Morbius was, if nothing else, not a very good movie. But when has that ever stopped the internet? For months, sarcastic trolls claimed this was the “Summer of Morbius” and pushed a Morbius catch phrase they invented: “It’s Morbin’ time.” It even got to the point where a fake CNN report circulated claiming Morbius 2 had officially been greenlit.

In my review I compared Morbius to The Room, that awful movie that has become a cult hit based on how hilariously bad it is. Despite being a total failure, The Room has gone on to become a fixture of popular culture as crowds still gather in theaters to shout and throw spoons at the screen while watching their favorite bad movie.

You’re tearing me apart, Michael!

Apparently, Sony figured Morbius might achieve a similar kind of cult bad-movie status. The studio re-released Morbius in select theaters this past weekend, hoping that the “fans” who have been getting their meme game on these past few months would come out to the movies.

Jared Leto himself even got in on the fun, sharing a video of himself reading a fake script titled Morbius 2: It’s Morbin’ Time. This sequel was penned by Bartholomew Cubbins, who, as best I can tell, is the main character from a Doctor Seuss book. Everyone’s in on the joke here, people.

Unfortunately, Sony’s hopes did not pan out. Forbes reports that Morbius re-released in 1,037 theaters and managed to rake in only $300,000 over the weekend. For reference, that breaks down to roughly $289 per theater, or a couple dozen people Morbin’ it out. Your local high school car wash probably made more in your city than Morbius did this weekend.

Despite the fact that Morbius utterly tanked both times, this will certainly only add to its legend. This film is gaining an ironic cult status, though whether we’ll still be joking about it a year from now remains to be seen. As it stands, here we are still discussing it long after we normally would be. So make of that what you will.

The next Morbius milestone is its upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release on June 14. Will this finally be the way that Michael Morbius gets his just desserts?

We’re not counting on it, but this thing has already defied the odds to stick around this long. Who can predict what lies ahead for Michael Morbius?

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h/t Syfy Wire