“Morbin time” is not quite done yet for Sony after Morbius becomes top film on Vudu despite two failed theatrical releases of the Spider-Man spinoff.
After underperforming at the box office, Sony Pictures’ Morbius has reclaimed its spot at the top of Vudu’s weekly streaming chart.
According to a press release from Fandango, Marvel’s vampire film returned to the top of Vudu’s chart’s this week. “Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man spinoff Morbius, newly available to rent on Vudu, tops the streaming chart on Fandango’s streaming service for the week of June 13th through June 19th,” Fandango said. Coming in behind the Jared Leto-led film is Sony’s Uncharted, which stars Spider-Man’s Tom Holland as Nathan Drake.
Based on the Marvel Comics character, Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa and stars Leto as a brilliant scientist who suffers from a blood disease so rare that the movie never says the name of it. The film, which came off the back of Spider-Man: No Way Home’s overwhelmingly successful theatrical release, was released in theaters in April to abysmal reception from fans and critics. This led to an explosion of ironic popularity for the film in the form of countless internet memes mocking its existence. Sony then tried and subsequently failed to capitalize on the memes by re-releasing the film in theaters for a single weekend, earning an average of only $270 per theater.
To add insult to injury, an internet petition was created following the failed re-release asking Sony to put Morbius in theaters for a third time in an attempt to prank the film studio. “If [Sony] were to once again release Morbius in theaters, just let us know, and we will be there for sure,” wrote the petition’s creator, which has just under 30,000 signatures as of this writing. “Unless something comes up.”
The film’s success on Vudu is another addition to Morbius’ admittedly small list of wins. While it’s not quite a “#MorbiusSweep,” the film managed to become the number one film on the Apple TV app. And despite all the criticisms and the memes, actor Al Madrigal recently defended the film against its many critics. “Sure, [Morbius] had problems and [Sony] diced it up quite a bit. I had some hilarious lines that were cut out of that movie. I was very funny,” the Morbius actor said at the time. “In London, when you shoot, they do a halfway party exactly midway through the film and there’s a big blowout. Editors came up to me. A gaggle of them came up and said, ‘Oh my God, we see everything you’re doing. All the subtle stuff. All of the jokes.’ I got to improvise through that freely.”
Morbius is available now on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD.
Source: Fandango