Sony delays the release date for Jared Leto's solo Morbius movie by seven months. After the successful relaunch of Spider-Man as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony restarted plans to create a shared universe of their own. The box office success of Venom in 2018 only bolstered these plans. One of the many projects they're working on is Morbius, which stars Jared Leto as Marvel's Living Vampire. The film wrapped production in 2019 ahead of a release that was then planned for summer 2020.
Just a few months after launching the first Morbius trailer, Sony had to readjust their plans. The coronavirus pandemic led to theaters shutting down and Sony was forced to delay Morbius to 2021. At the time, they moved the film and Venom: Let There Be Carnage to the first half of 2021, as it was thought the COVID-19 crisis would be well under control by then. Unfortunately, cases continue to rise around the world and movie theaters have yet to largely open. Now just two months ahead of its release, Morbius has been moved again.
Sony announced today that Morbius will no longer come out on March 19, 2021. The studio elected to delay the next installment of Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel characters by seven months. Morbius' new release date is October 8, 2021. If this new date sticks, Morbius will be released in theaters 15 months after the original release date.
This latest delay for Morbius will be disappointing to fans looking forward to seeing the film. It's been almost a year to the day that the first Morbius trailer dropped, and now it might be a while before more footage arrives. But, this could be beneficial given the current state of entertainment. Movies releasing in theaters right now are still struggling to make much of an impact. While, hopefully, things will have improved two months from now, Sony is playing it safe by delaying Morbius several months with the hope that COVID-19 will mostly be behind us by October.
There's also the possibility that Morbius will arrive at a better time when it comes to drawing the attention of Marvel fans. Prior to the delay, Morbius was scheduled to hit theaters the same day the first episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier debuts on Disney+. Instead of going head-to-head with a highly anticipated MCU property, Morbius c0uld be better situated for success. It is the only superhero movie coming out in October and the vampire flick will arrive just a few weeks ahead of Halloween. This is also the same release window that Venom received, and Sony saw huge success with that film. If theaters are closer to running at full strength by October, then Morbius will have a better chance of being the hit Sony wants it to be than if they forced it into theaters in March.
Source: Sony
