Weekend estimates: Morbius set for disappointing $39.1-million opening

April 3, 2022

Morbius

We’re still at the point where new releases are graded on the pandemic curve, but even so Morbius is heading for an opening weekend just on the low side of decent, with Sony projecting this morning that it will make $39.1 million on debut. That’s notably lower than Uncharted’s $44-million opening in February, and breaks a streak of great openings for Sony’s standalone Marvel movies, in particular Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which made $90 million in October last year, when even Disney’s Marvel movies were landing in the $70-million to $80-million range.

Here’s how the domestic numbers look this morning (click on the image for the full chart of films reporting so far)…



Outside of the pandemic era, among the Marvel and DC super hero franchises only Birds of Prey, with $33 million, has come in with less than $50 million on opening weekend. The poor reviews for Morbius suggest it won’t have great legs either, and it won’t be helped by having significant competition in the next few weeks. That makes it look like a setback for Sony’s Marvel universe ambitions, although they presumably have some time to retool before Kraven the Hunter arrives in January next year.

It’s fair to call the performance of the rest of the top 10 mostly disappointing, with two exceptions. The Lost City is holding on well in its second weekend, dropping 51% from its opening, and passing $50 million domestically in the process. Everything Everywhere All At Once is enjoying a second weekend just as impressive as its first, topping $1 million while playing in just 38 theaters. A24 is understandably delighted with the results so far for this genre-bending sci-fi action movie, and will be starting its nationwide expansion next weekend.

Overall, it looks as though the market will shrink for the fourth weekend in a row after peaking at $165.4 million when The Batman arrived on March 4. That’s a disappointing run that should, surely, be broken when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 arrives in theaters next weekend.

- Weekend studio estimates
- All-time top-grossing movies in North America
- All-time top-grossing movies worldwide

Bruce Nash,

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Batman, Morbius, Uncharted, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Lost City, Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Extended Universe, Sony’s Marvel Universe