14 hours ago
9
Media|‘Sinners’ Is a Box Office Success (With a Big Asterisk)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/business/media/sinners-box-office.html
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Ryan Coogler’s original horror film was expected to sell a strong $40 million-plus in tickets over the weekend. But its profitability remains a long way off.
April 20, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET
“Sinners” was on pace to sell about $43 million in tickets in North America from Thursday afternoon through Sunday, box office analysts said, a terrific result for an original, R-rated, slow-burning horror drama set in the 1930s and rooted in Black culture. Reviews were rapturous.
But the film — directed, written and produced by Ryan Coogler — was hugely expensive, analysts noted, costing Warner Bros. at least $150 million to make and market worldwide. The studio also agreed to demands by Mr. Coogler’s representatives for unusually generous compensation.
As a result, for Warner Bros. to make money, “Sinners” will need to attract substantial crowds in the weeks ahead. “It’s an excellent opening for a period horror film, except that it’s hard to call it completely successful because of its enormous budget,” David A. Gross, a film consultant, said in an email.
In a statement, Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, co-chairs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, said they were “thrilled” by the “stellar” turnout. “Warner Bros. Pictures remains committed to bringing singular in-theater experiences to audiences looking for bold movies, both original and those based on beloved existing properties,” they said.
Ms. Abdy and Mr. De Luca have been on a victory lap of late. “A Minecraft Movie,” which they put into production in consultation with David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, was expected to be No. 1 at the domestic box office over the weekend — for the third weekend in a row. Ticket sales for “A Minecraft Movie,” made with Legendary Entertainment, are expected to total about $45 million from Friday through Sunday, for a cumulative $348 million in North America since arriving on April 4.
Image
