---

Sony’s cinematic universe based on Spider-Man characters just got a little bigger.

The studio is developing Morbius, a feature project centered on Spider-Man antihero Morbius the Living Vampire.

Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, who worked on the recent Power Rangers movie, wrote the script, which was just submitted to the studio after a secret development process.

Morbius was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane and first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #101, the first issue not written by Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee.

Morbius is Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist who suffered from a rare blood disease and attempted to cure himself to disastrous results. He instead became afflicted with a condition that was a form of vampirism — the thirst for blood, along with fangs and super strength — and fought Spider-Man. Over time, however, he became a slightly heroic figure in his own right.

Details of Sony’s take on the character are not known.

Sony has been furiously developing its stable of Marvel-licensed characters that are mostly based off the heroes and villains that are connected to Spider-Man. However, these new movies will not be connected to Sony’s Tom Holland movies and not connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is being produced by Marvel Studios.

Sony had no comment.

Sharpless and Sazama previously tackled vampirism with Dracula Untold, Universal’s origin of the most famous vampire that starred Luke Evans. They also count The Last Witch Hunter and Gods of Egypt among their credits.

The duo also are showrunning and writing the Lost in Space reboot for Netflix that is to debut next year.

They are repped by ICM Partners.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Sony Dates Two Spider-Man Universe Movies for 2020
By MATT DONNELLY @MattDonnelly

Sony Pictures is staking out two significant dates in 2020 for their piece of the Marvel pie, the Spider-Man universe.

An untitled Sony-Marvel project will hit theaters on July 10, 2020, with an untitled Sony-Marvel sequel following on Oct. 2.

While no specifics were provided in the studio’s announcement, the July project is likely “Morbius,” starring Jared Leto. The October date is presumably a sequel to Tom Hardy’s smash hit “Venom.”

---

---

Adria Arjona (“Emerald City,” “Pacific Rim Uprising”) is in talks to play Martine, the female lead opposite Jared Leto in the Marvel Comics feature adaptation of “Morbius the Living Vampire” at Sony Pictures.

Daniel Espinosa is directing the spin-off film which follows renowned biochemist Dr. Michael Morbius who attempts to cure a fatal blood disease by injecting himself with a treatment serum derived from bats.

This transforms him into the anti-hero Morbius who has all the qualities of a vampire, including a taste for human blood. In the comics, Martine is engaged to Morbius and becomes a potential victim to his bloodlust as he grapples with the transformation.

Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama co-wrote the script while Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach will produce with Lucas Foster.

Arjona recently signed on for Olivier Assayas’ spy drama “Wasp Network” alongside Penelope Cruz, Pedro Pascal and Edgar Ramirez. That deals with a Florida-based, U.S. government-approved terrorist network of Cuban spies in the 1990s.

---