'Morbius' Nabs មិនអស្ចារ្យទេ 39 លានដុល្លារជាលើកដំបូង

“That was the worst end credits scene ever! Did he forget about the movie he was just in?” _{– My son, age ten, in the middle of a Lewis Black-level comic meltdown over មូបារ៉ាស។’ terrible mid-credit scenes}

A $39.1 million domestic and $84 million worldwide debut for Sony’s មូបារ៉ាស។, complete with miserable reviews (16% and 3.8/10 on Rotten Tomatoes) and poor viewer reception (a C+ from Cinemascore) may be less “a franchise born” than “a bullet dodged.” Conventional wisdom suggests that the film will play like អស្ចារ្យបួន (៦៨៥ លានដុល្លារពីការចេញដំបូង ៣៩៨.៥ លានដុល្លារ), ពណ៌ខ្មៅ Phoenix (២០២ លានដុល្លារ / ៣០ លានដុល្លារ) និង Superman ជួបរឿង Batman ($330/$166 million) and thus end up with an over/under $85 million domestic finish.

Maybe I’m wrong and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ។ skews young while Warner Bros.’ សត្វដ៏អស្ចារ្យ៖ អាថ៌កំបាំងរបស់ Dumbledore plays “for fans only.” Jared Leto’s មូបារ៉ាស។ does have the advantage of being a user-friendly, no homework-required, 105-minute all-quadrants franchise/superhero flick. The best case scenario is that it becomes a second choice/consensus pick over the next month with a multiplier akin to ក្រុមធ្វើអត្តឃាត ($325 million/$133 million after a 67% second-weekend drop). That still puts មូបារ៉ាស។ at around $98 million domestic.

It’s still another case of a film that opened better now than it would have in pre-Covid circumstances. Whether moving មូបារ៉ាស។ from January 29 to April 1 did damage to the film in terms of pushing it farther from Spider-Man: គ្មានផ្លូវនៅផ្ទះទេ, it helped Sony’s Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg vehicle Uncharted. Morbius still benefited from goodwill for Venom: សូមឱ្យមាន Carnage និង Spider-Man 3 កំណែ 2.0. មូបារ៉ាស។ was supposed to open in July of 2020 before both of those well-liked crowd-pleasers.

បាទ / ចាស, មូបារ៉ាស។ did open 53% better than អស្ចារ្យបួន។ Moreover, that មូបារ៉ាស។ turned out to be about as bad as we all feared is less of a sting after the mostly enjoyable Venom 2 ។ and the $1.88 billion-grossing Spider-Man: គ្មានផ្លូវនៅផ្ទះទេ. Of course, now there’s pressure on Aaron Johnson’s Kraven អ្នកប្រមាញ់ ដើម្បីបង្ហាញថា។ Venom wasn’t a fluke. Most of the reasons មូបារ៉ាស។ opened with half of what Venom pulled in October 2018 are the reasons it would have always done so even on a non-Covid timeline.

In terms of commercial appeal and likeability, Morbius < Venom and Jared Leto < Tom Hardy. Venom earned, not counting China ($269 million) $213.5 million domestic and $587 million worldwide on a $90 million budget. A similar split for មូបារ៉ាស។ on an $85-$90 million domestic total would give it a $235-$250 million global finish. The “good” news is that មូបារ៉ាស។ only cost $75 million to produce. While the film sometimes feels cheaper in a way that, say, Ghostbusters: Afterlife did not, the film is another example of Tom Rothman’s “blockbusters on a budget.”

These recent $75-$120 million tentpoles (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Uncharted, Venom, etc.) don’t require record-breaking grosses (or big bucks in China) to cross into profitability. It doesn’t mean audiences demand Morbius 2. History shows that even a better sequel will pay for the sins of this one (a phenomenon I like to call the “Tomb Raider Trap”). It does mean that Sony can probably feel confident that there’s an audience for these “Spider-Man villain origin story” flicks.

Chris Pine gave an interview noting that, as we’ve said for years, Star Trek movies should be cheaper, smaller-scale sci-fi adventures that don’t require top-tier box office. He reportedly turned down a pay cut for Star Trek 4 back in 2018 and his second thoughts may be due to an even harsher playing field for a would-be movie star known for a specific marquee character. អ្នកម៉ៅការ was supposed to be a wide theatrical release until STX sold the domestic distribution rights to Paramount. The old-school actioner, about a former military man who is double-crossed by his private contractor bosses, earned a mere $550,000 opening weekend in 489 theaters. It is concurrently available on PVOD.

Focus Features released Goran Stolevski’s អ្នកនឹងមិននៅម្នាក់ឯងទេ into limited release this weekend. Focus Features released the acclaimed (93% fresh and 7.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes) Noomi Rapace-led supernatural chiller, about a young witch who kills a peasant and takes her identity to experience life as a “normal” human being, into 147 theaters. It earned $125,000 over the weekend for an $816 per-theater average. That’s a non-starter, and I’d argue the theatrical release is a glorified marketing campaign for its PVOD debut in a few weeks. That’s not a criticism, as it may be “the new normal” for small-scale films.