Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Morbius.
The Sony-Verse's the MCU-adjacent Morbius, with the movie earning $5.7 million alone from Thursday preview screenings ahead of its release.
While Morbius is an origin story for the popular "Living Vampire" Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), the film's biggest commercial draw undoubtedly stems from its ties to other Sony-Verse and MCU properties. Morbius' marketing certainly did little to dissuade rumors of these ties, with early clips from the movie featuring graffiti that referenced an in-universe Spider-Man. While this clash between a web-slinger and Michael Morbius did not come to , the long-touted addition of Adrian Toomes/The Vulture (Michael Keaton) as a part of Sony's Sinister Six plans did ultimately materialize in Morbius' mid-credits scenes.
Given Morbius' ties to two several highly lucrative IPs, it is little wonder Sony provided ample backing for Espinosa and company to bring the Living Vampire to life on the big screen. This financial confidence was furthered in 2018 after Leto ed the production in the lead role, with Sony executives confident in his commercial draw after his performance as the Joker in 2016's Suicide Squad. As a result, here's how much Morbius cost to make, as well as how much it needs to earn to be a box office success.
Morbius' Budget: How Much It Cost To Make
Sony shelled out a cool $75 million for Marvel character as Venom was before his origin story debut.
How Much Morbius Needs At The Box Office To Be A Success
Morbius' initial box office projections and numbers look solid in relation to the film's relatively modest superhero movie budget. In addition to the $5.7 million taken from Thursday night preview screenings, Morbius is projected to gross around $33 million from 4,200 theaters in its opening weekend, with some industry tracking going as high as $40–50 million for Espinosa's movie. If Morbius performs close to these estimates in its first 4-day run, it will have recouped almost two-thirds of its budget in short order, putting it on course to be a lucrative venture for Sony.
Yet, given Morbius' frosty critical reception, the Sony-Verse movie will need to make astronomical strides at the box office to change its current perception and standing in the film community. Working against Morbius and the recent definition of "success" is also the fact that Morbius is directly following Spider-Man: No Way Home's astronomical box office performance as the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time ($1.8 billion). In short, Morbius will likely recoup its production costs in its entirety across its theatrical run, but its poor reviews look to have already hamstrung any opportunity for the kind of widespread success Sony initially hoped for.
