Matt Smith did not hold back after Brittany Broski asked what Keanu Reeves would watch on a flight. Smith reacted in disbelief, telling her, “Not f-king ‘Morbius.’” He then added, “Jesus Christ. My God. He must have really gone through the BA [British Airways] library to get to that … He’s on the valium or something.” In other words: the guy who headlines one of modern prestige TV’s biggest hits was publicly stunned that the biggest movie stars apparently sat down with a Sony-Marvel flop at 30,000 feet.

The clip landed because it is funny in a very specific way. Reeves is described by Smith as “one of the world’s biggest movie stars,” and Smith is essentially asking why a top-tier celebrity would spend their flight time on a movie that, in the real world, did not land. For context, “Morbius” was released in 2022, stars Smith as Milo alongside Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, and it was poorly reviewed, grossing only $167 million worldwide on a reported $75 million budget. Audiences gave it a C+ CinemaScore. So the idea that Reeves allegedly chose it over basically everything else becomes a kind of shared inside joke for fans who already remember the reception.

Smith, for his part, doubled down on Reeves as a “legend.” “I love Keanu Reeves, I just want to make that really clear,” Smith declared to the camera. That contrast matters, because it explains why his reaction is not pure dunking. He can be amused and still respectful of Reeves. The humor is in the mismatch: Keanu Reeves, the public-friendly symbol of movie gravity, seemingly pairing himself with a film that underperformed and divided audiences.

And once Smith’s moment hit social media, the internet did what it does best: it treated the “Morbius” stumble like a reusable punchline. Fans online loved Smith’s irreverence, praising him for being “the lone bright spot” in the film. Other users built their own jokes around the uncomfortable truth that even Smith himself could not get behind the project. “Sony def tricked him into doing that” became one recurring theory, echoed in a post that suggests Sony tricked Reeves into watching the movie. Another user framed it as a hard-to-beat career mismatch, writing they couldn’t “think of a job harder than Matt Smith in ‘Moribus.’”

This is where the executive briefing part starts to matter. “Morbius” underperformed by both critical and audience measures, with a C+ CinemaScore and worldwide grosses far below expectations implied by a reported $75 million budget. Yet, it keeps functioning like a content engine because viral moments convert embarrassment into replay value. Smith himself did not deny that the movie missed. At the time, he told Rolling Stone U.K. that “you just have to roll with it,” adding: “It’s a film, at the end of the day, we’re not saving lives. For whatever reason, it didn’t quite work out.” That stance is practical, but it also hints at the bigger business reality: the industry rarely gets a clean “win or lose” narrative. It gets a long tail of conversation.

For boards and investors, that long tail can look like both an advantage and a warning. On one hand, attention is money, and “Morbius” is staying visible because the brand is still associated with big-name talent and mainstream franchises. On the other hand, attention is also reputational exposure, and it often drags deals and strategies into the spotlight. When a high-profile star like Reeves is described as watching the movie on a flight, the story stops being just about the film’s performance. It becomes about what a studio thinks audiences will tolerate, how marketing and release decisions land, and how talent reacts when a project becomes shorthand for “the one that didn’t work.”

The “Sony-Marvel flop resurgence” framing in TheWrap’s coverage is basically a reminder that cinematic outcomes do not disappear after opening weekend. A movie like “Morbius” can be poorly reviewed, delivered a modest $167 million worldwide gross on a reported $75 million budget, and still generate new social clips years later because the cast and the culture keep intersecting. Smith’s “BA library” joke is not just stand-up. It is a moment of public decision-making by celebrity proxy: if a star can allegedly choose “Morbius,” then the movie becomes easier to revisit, easier to meme, and harder to bury.

If you are a studio exec, producer, or operator trying to manage a slate, the second-order implication is clear: performance is not the only metric. The story people remember shapes future risk. Fans already loved Smith’s irreverence toward the Marvel film, and online chatter is actively trying to rewrite the cause, including theories that “Sony def tricked him into doing that.” Even when those theories are not factual, they show how quickly audiences shift from discussing a movie’s quality to debating the incentives and decision-making behind it.

So the stakes for decision-makers are not “did Reeves watch it.” The stakes are what that moment reveals about durability. Franchise films can underperform and still remain culturally active, which can either soften the blow or keep the wound open. Today, Smith and Reeves are giving audiences a reason to talk about “Morbius” again. Tomorrow, that same mechanism can influence how audiences interpret your next bet, how talent morale plays out publicly, and how long reputational aftershocks last after a theatrical miss.