Several months ago, various reports suggested that Sony might have a Morbius movie in the works. Then a rumored logline for the project made its way online in June, along with the news that F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious) had declined the studio’s offer to direct.
Now, according to the latest news from major Hollywood trades, the Spider-Man spinoff has found both a director and a leading man in Daniel Espinosa (Safe House and Life) and Jared Leto (the DC Extended Universe’s Joker), respectively.
In June, rumor had it that the studio was still searching for an actor to play Morbius. However, a more recent Variety report indicated that Leto’s been loosely attached for some time, and was waiting until he was certain that the project was heading in the right direction before he signed on.
The Academy Award-winning actor actually met with a several potential directors before connecting with Espinosa in Germany during a Thirty Seconds to Mars (Leto’s band) tour. They apparently saw eye-to-eye on how to make the best of the script written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, and both later committed to the project.
So far, no release date has been set for the Morbius movie, but according to Variety, production is expected to start sometime in 2018. With Gina Prince-Bythewood's Silver and Black seemingly stalled, Morbius may follow Ruben Fleischer's Venom, which hits theaters in October 2018.
Here’s a screenshot of Leto's latest tweet about his role in Sony's Spider-Verse!
