It’s another expectation-shattering performance for writer-director Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, as the film dominates the domestic weekend box office with a stunning 10% drop from last weekend and nearly $45 million in receipts.
Sinners And Accountants – Brothers In Arms
Michael B. Jordan does double-duty in lead roles as twin brothers in Coogler’s original horror-action blockbuster. Can we call Sinners a blockbuster yet? We sure can, with these types of overperformances and record-breaking holds, it should land around $170 million worldwide – with an impressive $120+ million domestic – if not higher by close of business Sunday, and I’m probably being conservative in these estimates at this point.
I won’t be shocked at all if the film beats even today’s impressive estimates both domestically and internationally. It is entirely possible at this point that we could see a final cume of around $180 million when the dust settles.
Alternately, if Sinners’ must-see foot traffic is front-loaded, it might wind up settling closer to $165-170 million range. We need to see how much the positive word-of-mouth and reviews, combined with news of box office overperformance, drives international viewership this weekend.
Meanwhile, runner-up The Accountant 2 is enjoying $25 million at the higher end of estimates and tops the original film’s debut, in a tale of sinners turned saints who use their extraordinary brotherly killing abilities for good. Bad-a__ brothers facing overwhelming odds in an original action-driven moderately-budgeted story? Yes please, say audiences remembering why they love going to the movies.
Sinners Redeem Box Office
Yet despite Sinners taking such a huge lead for the weekend, and The Accountant 2 offering up a high-end outcome, the other weekend top contenders didn’t suffer as a result after all. The Minecraft Movie is still on course for north of $20 million, while Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith appears poised to take third place with $22 million.
The return of Star Wars to the big screen, just as Andor season 2 arrives on Disney+ with historic critical acclaim and amid a “rising tide lifts all boats” situation in theaters proves to be a nice bonus for Disney, ahead of their summer tentpoles and in the aftermath of Captain America: Brave New World’s disappointing $414 million result.
Sinners seems to have stirred so much audience interest and passion at just the right time, when Minecraft was generating buzz and turnout typical of a summer IP release and warming weather.
School vacations and a dearth of much else to be enthusiastic about in the world lately – economics, politics, climate, you name it and we’ve got it turned up to 11 these days – makes the escapism of cinema much more appealing.
That the multiplexes are also seeing less inflationary pressure on ticket prices compared to other entertainment options makes theaters the relatively less expensive go-to option these days, especially with streaming costs themselves rising and driving home entertainment costs high enough that cinemas are no longer being out-priced.
But none of that matters without Sinners being an exceptional film that delivers powerfully on the promise of its premise, with a terrific cast led by Jordan’s star power and Coogler’s directorial fame. The deeper themes about race and history and culture, as well as the sheer terror and excitement, all feed audiences craving to confront our demons and fears, but in a safe imaginary setting – all the more important when those fears increasingly stalk the daytime for so many people.
What’s happening isn’t merely a convenient convergence of external factors and motivators, but specifically that art is calling out to the public the way it always does during important moments in history and during shared times of struggle and uncertainty and change.
Sinners is the movie we needed, when we needed it. That’s what happened. It spoke to something important and powerful within people everywhere, and that message is spreading so much that people are flocking to see it.
So I think the combination of Sinners and The Minecraft Movie has helped buoy cinema higher and is driving traffic to other films as well. Which isn’t just good news for the close of spring at the multiplexes, but great news heading into summer.
Sinners And Summer Salvation
2025 was destined to be a weak year at the box office, and a lot of major projects were pulled from the release schedule or shuffled to safer calendar dates. But now, with a nice bit of positive momentum heading into the opening salvo of summer from Marvel with Thunderbolts*, and with some heavy-hitters waiting to take flight in coming weeks and months, spring’s Sinner sanctuary could also wind up helping summer’s salvation.
Sinners and the rest of this weekend’s top performers will soon face tough competition when Thunderbolts* arrives next weekend to kick off the summer movie season. But if this weekend is any indication, we should expect Thunderbolts* to play at the better end of expectations while Sinners and The Accountant hold strong, Minecraft enjoys a soft fall, and attendance helps turn the first week of summer 2025 into a healthy one for the box office. Studios could all use that sort of good news, and good omens for the rest of summer movie season. Fingers crossed!
