# Morgan (2016 film)
**Morgan** is a 2016 science fiction thriller directed by Luke Scott, in which a corporate troubleshooter is sent to a remote, top-secret facility to evaluate whether to terminate a bioengineered humanoid child who has injured one of her handlers. It stars [Kate Mara](https://www.edgepedia.org/kate-mara) as the troubleshooter Lee Weathers and [Anya Taylor-Joy](https://www.edgepedia.org/anya-taylor-joy) as Morgan, and was released theatrically in the United States on September 2, 2016 by 20th Century Fox.[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/morgan) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Luke Scott (feature directorial debut); screenplay by Seth W. Owen[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/morgan) • [3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/morgan) |
| Producers | Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, and Mark Huffam[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/morgan) |
| Release | September 2, 2016 (theatrical); December 13, 2016 (DVD/streaming)[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/morgan) • [4](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/morgan) |
| Runtime / rating | 92 minutes; MPAA R for brutal violence and some language[4](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/morgan) |
| Principal cast | Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rose Leslie, Toby Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Giamatti[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/morgan) |
| Box office | $8,809,407 worldwide on an $8,000,000 budget; $2,012,709 domestic opening[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt4520364/) |
| Critical reception | 38% on the Tomatometer (154 reviews); Metascore 48 from 33 critics[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/morgan/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and plot
Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) is an artificial being, bioengineered by a team of scientists funded by a large corporation at a remote, top-secret compound. She began walking and talking after one month of existence and grew to adult size within six months of being created, while retaining the mind of a child, complete with temper tantrums.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016) • [7](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/morgan/118421/) The staff of scientists who care for and monitor her disagree over whether Morgan is a "she" with feelings and rights or an "it."
In the film's opening minutes, Morgan, told she cannot go outside, throws a tantrum and stabs the behavioral scientist who breaks the news, Dr. Kathy Grieff ([Jennifer Jason Leigh](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-jason-leigh)), in the eye.[8](https://time.com/4463621/review-morgan-kate-mara/) The corporation funding the experiment sends Lee Weathers (Kate Mara), a risk-management consultant, to investigate the accident and assess whether Morgan should be terminated.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016) • [8](https://time.com/4463621/review-morgan-kate-mara/) Morgan's handlers include the chief scientist Dr. Simon Ziegler ([Toby Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/toby-jones)), Dr. Lui Cheng ([Michelle Yeoh](https://www.edgepedia.org/michelle-yeoh)), whom Morgan calls "mother," the psychoanalyst Dr. Amy Menser (Rose Leslie), and cook Skip Vronsky (Boyd Holbrook); a psychologist, Dr. Alan Shapiro (Paul Giamatti), evaluates her.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/morgan/) • [9](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/morgan-2016) • [17](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/morgan/) When Morgan breaks free, the staff find themselves in a violent lockdown with an unpredictable synthetic human.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016)
## Production
Luke Scott, son of director [Ridley Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/ridley-scott), made his feature directorial debut with the film, and his father produced it through [Scott Free Productions](https://www.edgepedia.org/scott-free-productions) alongside Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam.[3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/morgan) • [1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/morgan) Production companies included 20th Century-Fox Studios, Burk A Project, Scott Free Productions, and TSG Entertainment, with visual effects by BlueBolt.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4520364/companycredits/) Mark Patten was the cinematographer, [Max Richter](https://www.edgepedia.org/max-richter) composed the score, and Laura Jennings edited.[11](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/morgan/cast/2000365719/) Although the story is set in upstate New York, the film was shot in Northern Ireland.[9](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/morgan-2016)
**An AI-made trailer.** IBM trained an artificial intelligence system on horror film trailers, and the system learned to identify what viewers find scary; it was used to create a movie trailer for Morgan, reducing the traditional labor-intensive editing time and giving the trailer a darker, more suspenseful tone.[12](https://law.wm.edu/academics/intellectuallife/researchcenters/clct/2018-essay-contest/lights-camera-ai.pdf)
## Reception
The film received generally mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 38% Tomatometer from 154 reviews and a 30% audience score from more than 5,000 ratings; the critics consensus states that Morgan "neglects to develop its decent premise, opting instead to settle for a garden-variety sci-fi thriller with more action than ideas."[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 48 based on 33 critic reviews, categorized as mixed or average, with 11 positive, 16 mixed, and 6 negative; its user score is 5.7 from 92 ratings.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/morgan/) Cinafilm's aggregation of 136 professional reviews yields an average of 54%, and its overall average across 392 reviews is 50%, below its 59% average for 2016 films.[13](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/morgan-2016/critic-reviews/) • [14](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/morgan-2016/)
**Box office.** Morgan earned $3,915,251 domestically (44.4% of its total) and $4,894,156 internationally, for a worldwide total of $8,809,407, against a budget of $8,000,000.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt4520364/) Its earliest release was September 1, 2016 in the EMEA region, and it opened in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Mexico, and other markets through December 2016.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt4520364/)
## Themes and comparisons
Reviewers placed Morgan in the lineage of stories about humans creating artificial life, from *Frankenstein* to *Ex Machina* (2015), which several critics noted covers similar ground: an individual travels to a remote wilderness laboratory to assess an artificial being kept in a glass cage, and finds the creation has developed beyond what its creators anticipated.[9](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/morgan-2016) • [15](https://moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/morgan-2016.htm) Time Out described the film as "a Frankenstein-like tale for the twenty-first century" in which the title character is a human-AI hybrid developed by a mega-corporation for unspecified weapons purposes.[3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/morgan) Critics repeatedly singled out Anya Taylor-Joy's performance: the Roger Ebert review praised her "newborn-like aura, a calm if unsettling speech pattern and a tendency to explode into a terrifying fury within seconds," while Time noted her chilly portrayal of a being who can stroke a wounded deer one minute and break its bones the next.[9](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/morgan-2016) • [8](https://time.com/4463621/review-morgan-kate-mara/) Common criticisms were a thin script, cardboard dialogue, and a late shift into conventional action; the Reelviews review called the film "a worthy first feature" that relies on its experienced cast rather than special effects.[3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/morgan) • [16](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/morgan)
## References
1. [Morgan, 20th Century Studios](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/morgan)
2. [Morgan (2016), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016)
3. [Morgan 2016, directed by Luke Scott, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/morgan)
4. [Morgan Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/morgan)
5. [Morgan (2016), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt4520364/)
6. [Morgan Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/morgan/)
7. [Morgan (2016) Movie Plot and Synopsis, Tribute Movies](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/morgan/118421/)
8. [Review: An AI Experiment Goes Haywire in Morgan, TIME](https://time.com/4463621/review-morgan-kate-mara/)
9. [Morgan movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/morgan-2016)
10. [Morgan (2016) Company credits, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4520364/companycredits/)
11. [Morgan Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/morgan/cast/2000365719/)
12. [Lights, Camera, AI: Artificial Intelligence Authorship and Copyright Ownership, William & Mary](https://law.wm.edu/academics/intellectuallife/researchcenters/clct/2018-essay-contest/lights-camera-ai.pdf)
13. [Morgan (2016) Critic Reviews, Cinafilm](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/morgan-2016/critic-reviews/)
14. [Morgan (2016) Reviews, Cinafilm](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/morgan-2016/)
15. [Morgan (2016), Moria](https://moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/morgan-2016.htm)
16. [Morgan, Reelviews Movie Reviews](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/morgan)
17. [slantmagazine.com](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/morgan/)
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