If the last decade or so of being on the internet has taught me anything, it’s that cashing on viral trends can either go surprisingly well or turn into a total disaster. Jared Leto and Sony were hoping for the former with the re-release of Morbius, but guess what they got instead?

Thanks to the never-ending barrage of viral memes making fun of the movie, the suits at Sony decided it was a good idea to lean into the trend and re-release the comic book movie into 1,037 theatres. The result? It bombed again, with a collection of $85,000 on Friday and $280,000 over the weekend, according to Forbes.

If we were to strip these numbers per theatre, the average came down to $270 per screening, which is a disaster for a movie made on a budget of over $80 million, not counting the additional marketing cost. Overall, in both runs, the movie has rumoured to have made around $73 million. 

What doesn’t help either is Jared Leto, a figure surrounded by controversy, getting on the jokes to be “relatable.” In a video shared by the actor, Leto is seen hiding a script from the camera, which turns out to be for “Morbius 2: it’s Morbin Time!” while Curb Your Enthusiasm music plays in the background. 

As we mentioned earlier, Morbius has picked up a storm on Twitter, with users sharing memes on the infamous “It’s Morbin time” line. What Leto and Sony didn’t seem to understand was this didn’t necessarily relate to the interest of the audience wanting to watch the movie. A classic example of a big studio being out of touch with its fanbase. 

Ever since the re-introduction of Spider-Man, Sony has been pushing for a Sinister Six movie list, starring the likes of Michael Keaton, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy and others. However, each attempt at giving their characters their own movie has been worse than the last. With Jared Leto’s Morbius being the pièce de résistance of their already jumbled-up pie. 

The Morbius disaster sends a very clear message: Please stop cashing in on memes, Sony. It is never going to work. 

( Image credits: Sony Pictures )