Pulitzer-Winning Critic Morris Goes to Grantland

The Boston Globe’s Pulitzer-winning critic Wesley Morris

In a bit of shocking news Friday, Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Wesley Morris is leaving the Boston Globe to write full-time for the ESPN-owned website Grantland. The move was announced on the Facebook and Twitter pages of Grantland founder and editor Bill Simmons.

Morris, who won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism earlier this year, had written occasionally for Grantland since its launch last year, writing a column about athletes’ wardrobes called The Sportstorialist. The 37-year-old Philadelphia native and Yale graduate joined the Globe in 2002.

Grantland splits its coverage about evenly between sports and popular culture, but has not ever employed a full-time film critic. A rival site, the Gawker Media-owned Deadspin, runs a regular movie review column by Tim Grierson and Will Leitch.

Morris starts at Grantland Jan. 1.