Comic book fans will have to wait a little longer to see one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic vampires bite into his big screen debut.
Sony Pictures will move the release of “Morbius” by three months, the studio said on Monday. The film, part of Sony’s Spider-Man cinematic universe (not to be confused with Disney’s MCU), will debut on April 1, 2022 instead of on Jan. 28.
It’s not the first time (or the second, or the third) that “Morbius” has had to postpone its red carpet premiere. The film was supposed to debut on July 10, 2020, but COVID-19 had other ideas. As the pandemic has raged, “Morbius” has cycled through release dates — at various points it has been scheduled to open on July 31, 2020, then March 19, 2021, then Oct. 8, 2021, and finally moving Jan. 21, 2022, before shifting yet again to the Jan. 28 date that it just vacated. Omicron is just the latest unexpected twist in a pandemic that just refuses to go away.
In its new release date, “Morbius” will face off against “Easter Sunday,” a comedy with Jimmy O. Yang and Tiffany Haddish, as well as the Chris Pine thriller “The Contractor.”
Sony just scored massive box office successes with both “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” so it makes sense that it would try to give “Morbius” a longer runway at a time when the public health situation is complicating things. The studio is also planning another standalone spinoff based on Spidey villain Kraven the Hunter, so the stakes are high. Sony licenses the Spider-Man character and the rights to his various antagonists and allies from Marvel in a deal that pre-dates the comic book company’s major move into moviemaking and its acquisition by the Walt Disney Company.
In the film, Jared Leto plays antihero Michael Morbius, who attempts a desperate gamble in order to treat a rare blood discoed, one that makes him more familiar with a darkness inside of him. “Morbius” was directed by Daniel Espinosa and co-stars Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal and Tyrese Gibson.