With the Omicron variant making the rounds and COVID cases on the rise, the impact has already been felt on the movie release schedule for 2022. With films like Michael Bay's Ambulance and Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre getting pushed back, it was only a matter of time before Morbius was also delayed. Sony Pictures has confirmed today that the release date for the Jared Leto vampire film has been pushed back from January 28, 2022 to April 1, 2022.
While the film’s new release date may have seemed inevitable in the wake of the new COVID numbers, it comes as a cruel April Fool’s joke for many fans. This is the sixth time the Jared Leto film has been delayed from its initial release date of July 10, 2020, and until today it remained one of the last major films still slated for release in January and February.
Morbius follows the story of Doctor Michael Morbius, a scientist who accidentally turns himself into a vampire. Morbius is a comic book character known for being an adversary to Spider-Man, but Sony appears to be making Morbius an antihero in their adaptation much like Venom. The film has piqued many fans' curiosity because it is unclear which cinematic universe it seems to be set in. The first trailer featured Vulture (Michael Keaton), the villain from Spider-Man: Homecoming, as well as Morbius walking by a poster of Spider-Man with the word “murderer” graffitied across it, indicating some kind of reference to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man following the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home. However, some eagle-eyed fans have pointed out that the newest trailer seems to feature the Oscorp building from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, and also stars Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. Morbius is not Leto’s first entry into the comic book genre — or even as a comic book villain, as the actor previously played the role of the Joker in Suicide Squad, with his approach to the character being met with mixed reactions. However, he was asked to reprise the part for a brief scene in last year’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Morbius comes off a hot streak of Sony's latest comic book films. Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home have been wildly successful at the box office, with No Way Home becoming the 10th highest-grossing movie domestically after reaching $610 million this past weekend. Morbius’s delay may put a brief pause on Sony’s momentum, but the years of excitement and attention the project has generated will more than likely help it at the box office, whenever it eventually comes out. With this Morbius update, it’s more than likely we’ll hear about the upcoming Scream and Jackass Forever getting moved back as well in the near future.
Morbius is now slated for an April 1, 2022 release.