Morbius director responds to negative reviews: ‘I have a lot of self-hatred’

The new Marvel movie starring Jared Leto has been panned by critics

Morbius director Daniel Espinosa has responded to negative reviews of the film.

The new Marvel character adaptation stars Jared Leto as Dr Morbius, who is sick with a rare blood disorder and turns to a risky solution in order to save others from the same fate.

Since its 1 April release, the film has accumulated a host of negative criticism and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 16 per cent, making it one of the lowest-rated Marvel films to date.

In a recent interview with Insider, Espinosa was asked whether or not he paid attention to negative feedback.

“Look, I have a lot of self-hatred so I have a lot of criticism of my own work. I’m always trying to focus on being better. But I am also proud of what I do,” Espinosa said.

“It’s a strange thing to make something that is so public,” he added. “There are parts in all of my movies that I’m really proud of.”

The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey was among many critics to give the film an unfavourable review, writing: “Morbius, from top to bottom, is a work of shameless corporate desperation.”

Jared Leto in ‘Morbius’ (AP)

In addition to low ratings, its box office debut earned just $39.1m (£24m) during its US opening weekend and $84m (£64m) globally.

Comparatively, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame (2019) made box office history with worldwide earnings of $2.7b (£2b).

Morbius is in cinemas now.