Morbius director Daniel Espinosa encourages friends to send him all kinds of reviews - both positive and negative. To say that things have been rather mixed for the latest Marvel/Sony movie is to put it mildly. Morbius, which stars Jared Leto as the titular Living Vampire, is the next part of Sony's growing Spider-Man universe. It was originally supposed to debut in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic led to numerous delays. At long last, Morbius rolled out in theaters last weekend, and its reception has been far less than what audiences have come to expect from big screen superhero adventures.
To begin with, Morbius has received negative reviews from critics; its Rotten Tomatoes score currently sits at a measly 16%. It hasn't fared much better with audiences, as Morbius earned the lowest CinemaScore for a Marvel movie since 2015's Fantastic Four. And yet, it actually pulled in decent numbers at the box office. Though coming in much lower than most MCU and DCEU efforts, Morbius fell in with expectations and earned $39 million in its first 3 days. Globally, it grossed $84 million, which isn't too bad for a film with a reported $75 million budget.
Since Morbius' debut, Espinosa has spoken candidly about the disappointing reception his film has received. Because yes, he is very aware of it all, and that is partially because he encourages friends to send him reviews. Speaking to ComicBook.com, Espinosa responded to the question of whether he gives a lot of weight to negative reviews by saying he actually wants his friends to send him the "clever" ones. He said:
"I mean, I try not to. I just ask my friends to send me the ones that they think are clever. I mean, good or bad. And then I get a bunch of clever stuff and the stuff that my friends don't think is clever, maybe it's just healthy for me to read. So, it is that. You make a movie that is supposed to be public. I mean, it's part of the fundamental concept of what you're doing, but it's always very strange."
Earlier this week, Espinosa directly responded to Morbius' bad reviews by admitting that while he holds a lot of self-criticism for his work, he also is proud of the things he does. It sounds like Espinosa acknowledges that not all criticism is inherently bad, and that he genuinely wishes to hear differing opinions about his projects. With Morbius, it is probably fair to say that the buzz has been overwhelmingly negative, and that has to grate. Still, it is good that Espinosa is trying not to let that define his experience with the film.
Though Morbius has fielded some very harsh words in recent days, there is something to be said about Espinosa's attempt to tie campy horror into the superhero world Sony is trying to build. The Morbius post-credits set up a very eventful future for Leto's anti-hero, so regardless of how the critical consensus has shaken out, Sony likely isn't going to abandon him entirely. Espinosa feels some pride for his work, and that is a special thing that should not be discounted. Sometimes, focusing on the negativity just isn't the way to go.
Source: ComicBook.com
