Sony Pictures has been filming their second Spider-Man spin-off film Morbius for a week so far in London, UK. The film stars Oscar-winner Jared Leto as the titular Morbius, a former Spider-Man villain turned Marvel anti-hero and will be directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Snabba Cash, Life).
Dr. Michael Morbius is a chemist that is looking to cure himself of a rare blood disease and in the process of his experiments accidentally turns himself into a living vampire that feasts on human plasma. In various incarnations, vampires like Morbius were created by technology and not by supernatural means.
Variety reports that Fast and The Furious franchise player Tyrese Gibson joining Morbius.
TheHollywoodReporter adds that Tyrese Gibson’s role will be an FBI Agent investigating Morbius.
Gibson takes on one of the last major roles in the movie, an FBI agent trying to hunt down the living vampire.
THR also mentions that Doctor Who/Star Wars: Episode IX actor Matt Smith, who previously joined the film a while back is playing a villain named Loxias Crown. A friend of Morbius, who shares the same blood disease and also becomes a vampiric villain, not unlike Michael’s love interest Martine Bancroft played by Adria Arjona (Triple Frontier). Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows actor Jared Harris recently joined the film as Michael’s mentor.
Leto will play Morbius, while Smith is set to portray the villain of the piece, Loxias Crown, Morbius’ best friend who also suffers from the blood disease. Arjona will play Morbius’ love interest, while Harris will portray Morbius’ mentor.
Jared Leto had posted the very first set photo from Morbius on his official Twitter account, which might confirm HN Entertainment’s previous reporting from January that filming will be from February until May.
1 week down…11 to go…?♀️?♀️
Get Ready ?#MORBIUS @MorbiusMovie pic.twitter.com/3Tm9CGGKFz— JARED LETO (@JaredLeto) March 5, 2019
Morbius is one of many Marvel movies that Sony Pictures is developing for their own cinematic universe alongside things like Venom, Kraven The Hunter, Black Cat, Silver Sable, Jackpot, Silk, and Nightwatch.
A Venom sequel is said to be aiming for a fall shoot which would make it making the very next Spider-Man adjacent Sony Pictures film to go into production. Screenwriter Kelly Marcel is currently penning the script which will see Carnage the big bad, who is played by Woody Harrelson. Actors Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams are expected to return after the first film make an impressive $855 million at the global box office. The project is without a director as Ruben Fleischer is too busy with Zombieland: Double Tap and the studio will seek a replacement.
Silver and Black, a Black Cat and Silver Sable team-up movie was expected to shoot but at the last minute underwent script rewrites only to be completely canceled then split into two different solo projects Black Cat and Silver Sable.
Spider-Man: Far From Home will introduce the Sinister Six villain Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, who is played by Jake Gyllenhaal and will be released on July 5th. A third Spider-Man movie is expected but has yet to be officially announced by Marvel Studios or Sony.
It remains to be seen if Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will ever end up interacting with these adjacent characters, as Peter Parker is an MCU character and connecting him to these movies would suggest these other movies would be taking place in the MCU too. Holland has voiced a desire to see Spidey interact with Kraven and Venom in the future.
Sony Pictures has set Morbius’ release date for July 31st, 2020, a spot which had been originally slotted for an untitled Marvel Studios movie before Sony took over the date when Marvel seemingly vacated it (likely due to production delays with Guardians of The Galaxy 3).
SOURCE: VARIETY & THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
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