With last year’s Venom exceeding all expectations at the box office, Sony now has the encouragement they need to push forward with plans for their own comic book universe. The first spinoff on the agenda looks to be Morbius, featuring Jared Leto in the title role, and according to a new report from Variety, the film will also see Matt Smith of Doctor Who and The Crown fame make his SUMC debut.
It’s said that the Emmy-nominated actor is currently in final talks to feature in the Living Vampire’s upcoming flick, and while the identity of his character remains undisclosed, it’s at least reported that Smith’s role will be a major one. In any case, it’s nice to get some kind of update on the Daniel Espinosa-helmed film after months of relative silence. So far, we still have a lot to learn about the project, though we do know that Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, showrunners of the Lost in Space Netflix reboot, have penned the script.
As for when we can expect to see the movie in cinemas, a report from last November alleged that Sony has an unnamed Marvel adaptation scheduled for release on July 10th, 2020, and with Morbius looking like the next inhabitant of Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters to get the standalone treatment, the date seems plausible enough, albeit still unconfirmed.
Either way, it sounds like Morbius could be one of two Sony/Marvel movies to hit theaters next year, with Venom 2 also confirmed to be on the way. But before all that, Matt Smith will first be showing up in an even bigger film franchise when Star Wars: Episode IX comes out this December.