Morbius is the gift that keeps on giving. Last year, in yet another misguided attempt to create a self-contained universe for their license to the Spider-Man franchise, Sony Pictures unleashed a solo movie for the Wall crawler's Z-list antagonist, Michael Morbius. The idea of creating a film based on one of Spider-Man's least impactful villains was pretty dumb, especially considering Sony had no plans to introduce the character in a Spider-Man movie first. Ya know, like how they did in the comics?
Predictably-to everyone but Sony, apparently-Morbius flopped. However, even though the film underperformed at the box office, Morbius became one of the last year's best memes. The memes prompted Sony to attempt a rerelease, which also tanked. Now it seems like Morbius is finally getting the respect it deserves. According to Comic Book Resources, Morbius has earned quite a few Razzies. Hopefully, Sony gets the joke this time and doesn't attempt a third release for the film.
In a list of the nominations for the upcoming 43rd Razzie Awards — set to be held on March 11 — the movie has now been put forward for a total of five categories in the ceremony. The movie could be voted as the Worst Film of 2022 and could also have Jared Leto pick up the Worst Actor award, with Daniel Espinosa as the Worst Director to boot. Adria Arjona is also nominated for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance as Dr. Martine Bancroft and Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless could win the Worst Screenplay award.
It marks the conclusion of an unfortunate year for Morbius in which it was panned by critics and audience members alike. Whilst the film did manage to generate $167.5 million at the box office, it only achieved a 16% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and in its second weekend had the second-worst drop-off ever for a superhero film in terms of its takings. An influx of internet talk and memes led to Sony deciding to give Morbius a second attempt in cinemas, but it continued to flop commercially and critically.
