Morbius (film)

Morbius
File:Morbius - official film logo.png
Directed by	Daniel Espinosa
Produced by	Matt Tolmach Avi Arad Lucas Foster
Screenplay by	Matt Sazama Burk Sharpless Art Marcum Matt Holloway
Story by	Matt Sazama Burk Sharpless
Based on	Morbius, the Living Vampire by Roy Thomas Gil Kane
Starring	Jared Leto Matt Smith Adria Arjona Jared Harris Al Madrigal Tyrese Gibson
Music by	Jon Ekstrand
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Production company	Columbia Pictures Marvel Entertainment Arad Productions Matt Tolmach Productions
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release dates	July 31, 2020 (2020-07-31) (United States)
Country	United States
Language	English

Morbius is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is intended to be the second film in Sony's Marvel Universe. The film was directed by Daniel Espinosa from a script by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, and stars Jared Leto as Michael Morbius alongside Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. In the film, Morbius turns into a type of vampire after attempting to cure himself of a rare blood disease.

After announcing plans for a new shared universe of films inspired by Spider-Man characters beginning with Venom (2018), Sony was revealed to be developing one based on Morbius. Sazama and Sharpless had written a script by November 2017, with Marcum and Holloway joining later. Leto and Espinosa officially joined in June 2018. Work began in earnest at the end of the year with further casting, ahead of a production start in February 2019 in London. Filming was confirmed to have been completed by June 2019.

Morbius is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 31, 2020.

Premise

Suffering from a rare blood disease, Michael Morbius tries a dangerous cure that afflicts him with a form of vampirism.

Cast

• Jared Leto as Michael Morbius:
  A scientist suffering from a rare blood disease who attempts to cure himself and instead becomes afflicted with a form of vampirism, which gives him superhuman abilities but none of the superstitious weaknesses usually associated with vampires. Leto was drawn to the character's struggle with his disease, and to the moral implications of a person who wants to be a hero but also has a thirst for blood.
• Matt Smith as Loxias Crown:
  Morbius's friend who suffers from the same rare blood disease. Smith joined the film, after previously turning down other superhero film roles, due to director Daniel Espinosa's involvement and encouragement from Karen Gillan, who portrays Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and previously worked with Smith on Doctor Who.
• Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft: Morbius's fiancée.
• Jared Harris as Morbius's mentor.
• Al Madrigal as Alberto Rodriguez: An FBI agent hunting Morbius.
• Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud: An FBI agent hunting Morbius. Gibson signed a three picture deal when he joined the film.

Additionally, Michael Keaton has been cast in an undisclosed role.

Production

Development

Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel Entertainment in May 2000 to co-produce, finance, and distribute several films based on Marvel Comics characters, including Morbius, the Living Vampire. In May 2017, Sony officially announced plans for a new shared universe named "Sony's Marvel Universe", to feature Spider-Man-related properties beginning with Venom in October 2018. That November, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless submitted a script to Sony for a potential Morbius film, after a "secret development process" at the studio for the character. Jared Leto became "loosely attached" to the project to potentially star in the title role, but would not fully commit to the film until he was happy with the direction it was going; Leto asked to personally meet with several of the directors that Sony was looking at for the film.

By the end of April 2018, Sony had approached Antoine Fuqua about potentially directing the film. He expressed interest in taking on the project, and said that if he was to make a film in the superhero genre he would want to make it "something that's closer to what I get excited about." He ultimately chose not to take on the project. Other directors that Sony approached about the film included F. Gary Gray, who considered directing the film but ultimately turned down the role, and Daniel Espinosa, who previously directed the film Life (2017) for the studio. In May, while on tour in Germany with his band Thirty Seconds to Mars, Leto met with Espinosa to talk about the film, and the pair were both confirmed for the project at the end of June. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Lucas Foster were set to produce, and Sony was expected to give the film a release date shortly after with filming set to begin by the end of 2018. The studio hoped the film would fit in with its already-set Marvel slate, including Venom and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).

Pre-production

By the end of September, Sony was intending for production on the film to take place in Atlanta, Georgia—where Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Venom were previously produced—but had still not set a release date for the film. Screen Rant's Cooper Hood opined that Sony was likely waiting to see the response to Venom in early October, with Arad confirming at that time that there was excitement at Sony to produce Morbius, especially due to the story of a "healer that becomes a killer, and how do you deal with [that?]" Tolmach said the project was "very far along" at that stage and they were now planning to begin filming in early 2019, with the intention that Morbius would be the second film released as part of Sony's shared universe after Venom. He added that Leto was bringing the same "intensity" to the film that he had playing the Joker in Suicide Squad (2016). By November, box office analysts believed that Venom had been successful enough for Sony to move ahead with other films like Morbius, and at the end of that month the studio dated an untitled Marvel film that was believed to be Morbius for a July 10, 2020 release. Adria Arjona entered negotiations to portray the film's female lead, Martine Bancroft, in December; her involvement was confirmed a month later when Sony pushed the release date to July 31, and Matt Smith also joined the cast.

Filming

Principal photography began during the last week of February 2019 in London, under the working title Plasma. Oliver Wood served as cinematographer for the film. With the start of filming, Jared Harris and Tyrese Gibson joined the cast as Morbius's mentor and an FBI agent hunting Morbius, respectively. Smith was revealed to be portraying the villainous Loxias Crown. In March, filming took place in Manchester's Northern Quarter, portraying New York City. A month later, Gibson revealed that he was portraying Simon Stroud, and that Al Madrigal had been cast as his partner, Alberto Rodriguez. At the end of the month, Justin Haythe was believed to have contributed to the film's script. Filming was scheduled to take 12 weeks, and Venom producer Amy Pascal said in June that production had "just wrapped" on the project.

Post-production

In September 2019, Sony announced a new agreement with Disney that extended a previous deal to have Marvel Studios and its president Kevin Feige produce a sequel to Far From Home, keeping Spider-Man in Marvel's shared universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). As part of the new agreement, Feige stated that moving forward the MCU's Spider-Man would be able to "cross cinematic universes" and appear in Sony's own shared universe as well. This interaction was said to be "a 'call and answer' between the two franchises as they acknowledge details between the two in what would loosely be described as a shared detailed universe". The film's first trailer, released in January 2020, included an image of Spider-Man that commentators equated to the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man films though it appeared to be used as a reference to the ending of Far From Home. The trailer also included a brief appearance by Michael Keaton, who previously portrayed Adrian Toomes / Vulture from the co-produced Marvel Studios Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Homecoming. At that time, Sony also revealed that Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had contributed to the film's script.

Music

By October 2019, Jon Ekstrand was set to compose the score for Morbius after doing the same for Espinosa's previous films.

Marketing

The first trailer for the film was released on January 13, 2020. Discussing the trailer, Julia Alexander at The Verge described the premise of the film as "ridiculous", while Matt Goldberg of Collider felt it looked "silly" and also noted that the film looked very similar to Venom, which he acknowledged was commercially successful. Scott Mendelson, writing for Forbes, agreed with the comparison to Venom which he felt was a good move by Sony due to the success of their last few Spider-Man films, but cautioned that Leto may not have the same box office draw for general audiences that Tom Hardy gave to Venom. Much of the discussion surrounding the trailer centered on the revelation of Keaton's role and the visual reference to Spider-Man, which led to questions about the film's relationship with the Spider-Man films and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Release

Morbius is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 31, 2020. It had previously been set by Sony for release on July 10.

External links

• Morbius at IMDb