RIP Morbius

[Grendel_Khan]

Disney dropping the ball completely on the John Carter marketing made me very sad. That should have become a franchise. Dejah Thoris should be a Disney Princess now.

Never forget, or forgive, the decision to call a movie about a dude teleporting to Mars to become a swashbuckling superhero.....

John Carter

 

[payn]

One of the reasons you might not be seeing much coverage of Morbius is that it never generated any buzz in an organic way. If anything, when the first teasers showed up long, long ago (the movie's release has been repeatedly delayed) it didn't exactly catch fire, and now it's sort of limping into theaters in a perfunctory way.

Don't get me wrong, I hate it when a pre-release meta-narrative turns a promising movie into a punchline. John Carter, for example, was a completely cool movie from a super talented team of filmmakers that got framed in the laziest media corners as the next Waterworld, so no one gave it a chance. But--and I know this is totally subjective--John Carter actually looked cool, had interesting people making it, etc. With Morbius, I think the lack of buzz, or the anti-buzz, is deserved. Boring director and visuals, writers with horrendous track records, and Jared Leto clearly phoning it in. No amount of marketing could or should save this turkey.

I always say you shouldn't knock it until you rock it. Though, this does seem like you are giving Morbius the John Carter treatment.

 

[Ryujin]

Re-kill? Un-kill?

He's "The Living Vampire", so un-undead.

 

[James Gasik]

Never forget, or forgive, the decision to call a movie about a dude teleporting to Mars to become a swashbuckling superhero.....

John Carter

I mean, somehow Jack Reacher ended up getting a sequel with an equally bland name. So it works sometimes.

That having been said "JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS" would have been the most epic title ever.

 

[Ryujin]

Never forget, or forgive, the decision to call a movie about a dude teleporting to Mars to become a swashbuckling superhero.....

John Carter

They needed to keep the ": Warlord of Mars" part.

 

[James Gasik]

He's "The Living Vampire", so un-undead.

But since Dracula and actual vampires exist in Marvel, he could become Morbius "The Undead Living Vampire"!

 

[Ryujin]

I mean, somehow Jack Reacher ended up getting a sequel with an equally bland name. So it works sometimes.

That having been said "JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS" would have been the most epic title ever.

It would have done even better if they had 'dressed' Lynn Collins in the manner that Burroughs described Carter's first view of Dejah Thoris.

 

[James Gasik]

It would have done even better if they had 'dressed' Lynn Collins in the manner that Burroughs described Carter's first view of Dejah Thoris.

Now now, this was the Disney version.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

I always say you shouldn't knock it until you rock it. Though, this does seem like you are giving Morbius the John Carter treatment.

Nope. Read what I wrote. To explain further, John Carter looked great, to me, because the pre-release visuals were awesome, the director's done some of the best movies of our lifetimes, plus he co-wrote the movie, Taylor Kitsch was excellent in Friday Night Lights, etc. Plus it was an interesting concept, not just another attempt to cash in on adjacent IP.

I gave specific reasons for why Morbius has the opposite sort of filmmaking pedigree, plus pre-release visuals that are boring. I didn't mention that it was drafting off the MCU, but there you go. Morbius hits all the reasons that a movie could be unappealing, none of which are based on the industry gossip nonsense that snowballed and ultimately killed John Carter. Morbius looks bad because there's nothing about it that looks good.

 

[James Gasik]

Also Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas was excellent!