Morbius Delayed to Next Year Due to Coronavirus Pandemic

Morbius is the latest in a long line of movies to be delayed as a result of the ongoing coronavirus. News began circulating Monday evening that a host of Sony properties had been delayed, including the Jared Leto-starring feature. Instead of hitting theaters this July, ComicBook.com can confirm Morbius will now be released March 19, 2021. In addition to Morbius, Sony has also delayed the much-anticipated Ghostbusters sequel, Uncharted, and Peter Rabbit 2 to name a few. The movie was initially supposed to get a theatrical release July 31st.

Also delayed by Sony was the “Untitled Marvel” date is had this October, something that was likely for Andy Serkis’ Venom 2, the anticipated sequel which just recently wrapped principal photography. Venom 2 is now without a release date, something that will likely be shored up once the post-pandemic future becomes a little more solidified.

Though little is known about the production, even with a teaser trailer out and about, longtime Sony and Marvel producer Avi Arad praised both the performances of Leto and Venom‘s Tom Hardy.

“This is the great thing for us now, that an actor like [Leto], and an actor like [Venom star] Tom [Hardy] wanted to have their own character. But the character they love,” he said in a previous interview. “Both of them, very hard to get them to do a movie. You actually cannot get them. We went in, we sat with them, and everybody told us, ‘Oh, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.’ Nothing. That’s what he wanted to do. We went to this place with them, and he just…good actors want to be different than what they are.”

Sony’s synopsis for Morbius can be found below.

One of Marvel’s most compelling and conflicted characters comes to the big screen as Oscar winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero, Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success soon reveals itself to be a remedy potentially worse than the disease.

Leto is set to appear in the flick alongside Tyrese Gibson, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, and Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes’ Vulture, effectively tying the movie into Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Homecoming.