What’s it rated? PG-13
When? 2022
Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Regal Edwards Santa Maria 10 (Thursday, July 21, 6:30 p.m.)
The backstory behind the release dates (yes, plural) for Morbius—Sony’s adaptation of one of the few, obscure Marvel characters that Disney doesn’t have the film rights to—is fascinating. Jared Leto plays the titular vampire antihero in the film, which premiered in April (postponed almost two years after its original release planned for July 2020) to overwhelmingly poor reviews from critics (with 16 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and disappointing box office returns.
But Morbius became the subject of so many trending memes and TikTok videos over the next couple of months that Sony decided to re-release the film in June for one weekend only. The brief re-release earned Sony an extra $300,000 total, and inspired someone to start a petition on change.org titled, “We were all busy that weekend.” With more than 31,000 signatures, the petition begged Sony executives to bring back the film for a third wide release, but was not successful.
Fortunately for Morbius fans, the film is now available to buy or rent through various outlets, and has been playing locally at Santa Maria’s discount theater (where admission is $4.25) for the past several weeks (as of press time, the film is confirmed for a 6:30 p.m. screening on July 21 at the theater, where I hope it’ll continue showing for years to come). (104 min.) Δ
This article appears in Jul 21-31, 2022.