Ryan Coogler’s sexy, gory vampire musical Sinners made a big, bloody splash on its opening weekend, grossing $48 million domestically (a few million more than the projected $40 million that insiders said it would make), and taking the top spot away from box-office behemoth A Minecraft Movie.
Usually, a film that has a great debut like Sinners would get some celebratory coverage from the trades and online sites. But, even though it’s another certified blockbuster that’s keeping the lights on at Warner Bros. (Minecraft is also a WB picture), some outlets have been downplaying its obvious success. The New York Times reported that, despite its opening weekend haul, it still has a long way to go to break even at the box office. Variety made the same quibbles on X. Vulture has been the most blatant in covering Sinners‘ financial journey, even dropping a post-weekend piece titled “So Is Sinners Going to Make or Lose Money?” (Jesus, can Black folk do a victory lap before we get to the numbers-crunching?)
It’s true that the $90 million movie has to rake in more dough in order to become a profitable smash (these sources say it must make $170-$200 million domestically). But the aforementioned outlets pegged Sinners‘ opening weekend success as more of a rarity than a triumph. This has already gotten called out on social media: Consider this side-by-side comparison of the Times‘ Sinners headline and a 2019 Times headline that trumpeted the success of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, a movie that had the same budget as Sinners, but only grossed $41 million on opening weekend and came in second place. And that earlier Variety post prompted Ben Stiller and Patrick Schwarzenegger to give their own supportive retorts.
Those who’ve seen the movie certainly aren’t okay with the scrutiny. “It doesn’t feel great,” Brandon Collins, film critic and co-host of the Medium Popcorn podcast, told The A.V. Club. Collins caught a press screening weeks ago, but he took in another screening—at New York’s Lincoln Square 13, where it’s being shown on IMAX 70mm film—on Saturday. “It was incredible. The audience was completely locked in, and everyone was fucking with it so hard.”
Exhibitor Relations media analyst Karie Bible also caught an exuberant Saturday screening at Vista Theater Hollywood, which is showing it in 70mm. “I have not had this good of an experience seeing a film in ages because the energy—everybody was so excited,” Bible told The A.V. Club. “Everybody was hopped up on the movie. People were clapping and cheering and gasping and it was one of the best communal moviegoing experiences I have had in an eternity. I needed that in my life.”
Sinners has received across-the-board love from critics and audiences (it’s the first horror flick to get an A from CinemaScore, ever). Fans (which includes actors like Pedro Pascal) rave about it on social media. TikTok features everything from people seeing it again in a different format to Christians who claim that it’s demonic. Much like when Coogler’s Black Panther became a cultural movement during its theatrical rollout (remember all those African outfits?), Collins believes Sinners is causing a wave Warner Bros. wasn’t banking on. “I think they definitely were hoping to break even, you know what I mean, with the movie,” he says. “But I don’t think they anticipated the cultural moment that it’s having now, right? Because I think for Warner Bros., the issue for them is it’s drawing attention to Ryan Coogler’s deal.” (Although it’s similar to the deal Tarantino made when he released Hollywood with Sony, Coogler’s deal, which includes first-dollar gross and ownership of the movie reverting to him in 25 years, is allegedly making studio executives freak the hell out.)
Collins believes that the media didn’t expect the Sinners crowd to be so, shall we say, 10 toes down with their support, especially after revealing what Coogler will get if Sinners is a smash. Even WB chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who greenlit Sinners, recently defended Coogler and his deal in a Hollywood Reporter interview. (“They talked about this as an existential threat to the industry. I mean, it’s so ignorant and laughable,” said De Luca.)
“I think that [the studio] didn’t anticipate the controversy that was going to come with it, for sure,” Collins says. “There’s no way, and it’s controversial for the wrong reasons. There’s backlash against the establishment and these publications that are so obviously biased that now it’s putting a spotlight on the fact that Black art doesn’t get the investments and the recognition that it deserves.”
It’s hard not to bring up race when it comes to the strange pushback Sinners has received. The film industry always acts like hit pictures from people of color are anomalies, preferring to stubbornly hedge their bets on franchise fare that’ll land those precious four quadrants. But, as African-American auteurs like Coogler and Jordan Peele have shown, non-IP popcorn films starring people of various shades will attract many people of many shades at the box office—and these young Blerds are making the powerful white people look bad!
“I do think it’s racial bias,” says Bible. “I think it challenges the status quo in terms of what they think should or should not be successful… The screening I was at—and again, I live in L.A.—it was very diverse. I mean, there were Latino people, there were Asian people, there were white people, there were Black people. It was a real diverse crew, and God bless, I was thrilled to see that.”
While Bible believes Sinners will continue to thrive in theaters (and, hopefully, gain some Oscar buzz), Collins hopes that its success will lead to changes in how these films are covered.
“This is an important conversation to be had, especially in this industry, in regards to how Black arts are celebrated in the press and how our talent keeps being downplayed,” he says. “I think there will still be simmerings of resentment if these publications don’t address this bias and change it up. I don’t know how we exactly see tangible results of that. It’s going to take earning back some trust—that you know what the hell you’re talking about, and that you’re not just tokenizing one or two journalists of color to represent your skewed views. It’s a wait-and-see.”
As of this writing, Sinners has already made $71 million worldwide, and could potentially become yet another popular-across-the-racial-diaspora Black movie that saves a floundering studio. (Blaxploitation classics—Shaft, Super Fly, etc.—helped keep studios from bankruptcy back in the day.) Maybe a strong second weekend will make both Hollywood and media outlets realize this isn’t a fluke, and that Coogler should join the untouchable ranks of superstar auteurs like Nolan, Tarantino, and Peele.
