Morbius’ Runtime Is Longer Than Venom 2 But Shorter Than No Way Home

Morbius‘ runtime has been revealed, and it comes in between the two most recent Spider-Verse releases. Sony’s burgeoning Marvel universe has been very busy recently. In October, the studio finally debuted Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the eagerly-anticipated sequel to 2018’s surprise hit. The Tom Hardy-starring movie earned the biggest opening weekend of the coronavirus pandemic (at the time) and received positive reviews from fans. Then, just two weekends ago, Sony’s latest movie with Marvel Studios, Spider-Man: No Way Home, swung to the second-biggest opening of all time and gave the MCU its fourth A+ CinemaScore.

Next up on the release calendar is the long-awaited Morbius. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, the comic book film was originally slated to release in the summer of 2020. However, following numerous schedule changes, it’s now set to premiere in January 2022. Morbius stars Jared Leto as the title character, a brilliant scientist suffering from a rare blood disease. In his desperation to find a cure, Michael Morbius’ latest experiment gives him a form of vampirism that holds devastating consequences for his life.

With Morbius just over a month away from release, new details about the film are starting to emerge, including its runtime. A recent posting on the official Cinemark website reveals Morbius will clock in at 1 hour and 48 minutes, or 108 minutes. That makes it longer than Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which came in at a slim 1 hour and 37 minutes, but still far shorter than No Way Home (2 hours and 28 minutes).

After a fall that saw numerous big-budget movies clock in at well over 2 hours (No Time to Die, Eternals, and The Matrix Resurrections are just a few examples), Morbius‘ shorter runtime might come as a relief to some audiences. Many franchise films have, in recent years, skewed longer, but oftentimes a slimmer story can be better served by a similar length. Seeing as Morbius is an origin story, it’ll be interesting to see how much it fits into 1 hour and 48 minutes; hopefully, that will be enough to introduce Michael Morbius to those who might not be as familiar with the comics.

Morbius also stars Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Tyrese Gibson, and Jared Harris. It’ll be the first superhero movie of 2022, though the year will see numerous others like The Batman and Thor: Love and Thunder. Morbius is something of an interesting case, having been delayed so many times. It’ll serve as a key building block for Sony’s growing Marvel universe, which so far has really only been popularized by the Venom movies. Morbius can expand this world in a meaningful way even as it introduces its lead anti-hero; let’s just hope it can manage that in under two hours.