Morbius (film)

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, adjunct to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is being directed by Daniel Espinosa from a script by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, and stars Jared Leto in the title role alongside Adria Arjona, Matt Smith, Jared Harris, and Tyrese Gibson.

After announcing plans for a new shared universe of films inspired by Spider-Man characters beginning with Venom, Sony was revealed to be developing one based on Morbius. Sharpless and Sazama had written a script by November 2017, with Leto and Espinosa officially joining in June 2018. Work began in earnest at the end of the year with further casting, ahead of a filming start in February 2019 in London. Production was set to move to Atlanta, Georgia, and end in June 2019.

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

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.
 * Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft: Morbius's fiancée.
 * 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.
 * Jared Harris as Morbius's mentor.
 * Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud: An FBI agent hunting Morbius. Gibson signed a three picture deal when he joined the film.

Additionally, Al Madrigal portrays Stroud's FBI partner Alberto Rodriguez.

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, Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama 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 MU 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 their other MU 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 at the end of January when Sony pushed the release date to July 31. At that time, Matt Smith also joined the cast.

Filming
Principal photography began during the last week of February 2019 in London, under the working title Plasma. With the start of filming, Jared Harris and Tyrese Gibson joined the cast as Morbius's mentor and an FBI agent hunting Morbius, respectively,  and 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. Filming is scheduled to take 12 weeks, and to also take place in Atlanta, Georgia.

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.