Due to poor reviews, Morbius opened with $39.1 million

New York Sony Pictures’ Marvel adaptation Morbius got dismal reviews but managed to debut with $39.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

That was enough to hand “Morbius,” starring Jared Leto as a mutant vampire biochemist, to number one at the box office — even though it was an uncharacteristically low debut for a Marvel movie. Sony’s last movie to release a Marvel character, 2018’s Venom, opened in 2018 with a doubling of ticket sales.

But “Morbius” also received unusually poor reviews for the Marvel version. On Rotten Tomatoes, it easily has the worst Marvel score at 17% of recent times. Venom (30%) was also not a hit with critics. But given that expectations hovered closer to $50 million in Morbius’ opening weekend, it’s possible that poor word of mouth and worse reviews have lowered its receipts.

Morbius review: Leto bares fangs in a dry vampire workout

David A. Gross, who directs consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research, said: “This is a poor opening on Marvel’s exceptional benchmark for a new superhero series release. The weekend number is well below average for a Marvel first episode, and below average compared to a series The new DC Comics too.”

However, Morbius, which was delayed several times due to the pandemic, was allocated a rather modest budget for a comic, the production of which cost 75 million dollars. The audience also gave it a low score – C+ from CinemaScore – although moviegoers still liked it more than critics. Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score for the film directed by Daniel Espinosa is a new 69%.

Overseas, “Morbius” brought in $44.9 million over the weekend, versus $84 million in global money.

However, it will be difficult for “Morbius” to come close to Sony’s recent successes at Marvel. The last two films were big box office hits: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” grossed nearly $1.9 billion worldwide, while “Venom 2” last year grossed $502 million worldwide.

Last week’s best movie, Sandra Bullock’s Channing Tatum rom-com adventure “The Lost City,” slipped to second place with $14.8 million in its second week. With a total of $54.6 million for two weeks, “The Lost City” performs significantly better than other recent entries in the genre.

Review of “The Lost City”: Bullock, Tatum charms their way through the woods

After the Oscars, Apple put the award-winning “CODA” movie in more than 500 theaters. The movie, which premiered on Apple TV+ last August, became the first movie ever from the streaming service to win top Hollywood rankings. Apple didn’t share ticket sales numbers on Sunday, making “CODA” the first best picture winner without a US box office hit.

Review: “CODA” is one of the best films of the year

Also working against the movie “Morbius”: the box office is getting busier. While there are no new wide releases against Sony’s release this weekend, the coming weeks will bring “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, “Ambulance” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore” releases. The next Marvel movie, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” comes from Walt Disney Pictures on May 6.