“Sinners” Takes a Big Second Bite: Ryan Coogler’s Vampire Thriller Has Historic Second Weekend

Writer/director Ryan Coogler has officially gone five for five.

The 39-year old auteur can now make the very rare claim to have had five consecutive hit films in his first five attempts, as his wildly ambitious, beautifully composed fifth feature, the R-rated supernatural period thriller Sinners, just boasted the most impressive second weekend for any film in well over a decade, pulling in $45 million for the smallest drop for a movie’s second weekend since James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar. 

Coogler, whose breakout film Fruitvale Station in 2013 jumpstarted a career that has seen him swing and connect each time, from 2015’s Creed to his 2018 MCU entry, the global juggernaut Black Panther, and his bittersweet 2022 follow-up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, has yet to miss. Now, with a film inspired by stories from his Mississippi-born grandmother, Coogler’s deeply personal, deliciously ambitious vampire drama/horror has become a big hit for Warner Bros., proving that audiences will flock to theaters for original films, even period piece genre films, if they trust the filmmaker. The rapturous reviews and excellent word of mouth have fueled the surge in box office sales, with Sinners far outstripping hopes that it would merely compete with the Ben Affleck-led The Accountant 2 for the top spot in its second weekend. Instead, it pulled in an incredible $45 million to win the weekend once again.

This minuscule 6 percent drop from Sinners’ $48 million opening weekend haul is one of the smallest in history for a film playing outside the year-end holidays. It is now a sure thing that Coogler’s film will be a massive win for Warner Bros. and Coogler himself, who earned the deal he signed, taking ownership of the film after 25 years. The music-soaked, moody vampire thriller, shot entirely in Louisiana but set in Mississippi in 1932, stars Michael B. Jordan as a pair of ambitious, morally flexible gangster twins named Smoke and Stack. The two return from serving in World War I and then spend a stint in Chicago, which appears to have gotten them mixed up with both the Italian and Irish mobs (Al Capone is name-checked). They then return to their small town in Mississippi to open a juke joint. Their plan goes all too well—their gifted bluesman cousin, Sammy (Miles Caton) sings and plays his way into the dark heart of a nearby vampire, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), confirming the legend that opens the film that some musicians are so gifted, they pierce the veil between the living and the dead. What ensues is a life-or-death struggle with the undead, in which the growing numbers of vampires, led by Remmick, try to convince the survivors that in the Jim Crow South, a deal with the immortal bloodsuckers and joining their undead legions is far better than the one they’re getting from the Klan, who plan to take back the land Smoke and Stack paid for after killing the brothers and any else left inside the joint.

The movie is relentlessly entertaining, often intensely moving, occasionally very funny (Delroy Lindo is a gem throughout), gorgeously shot, and meticulously composed with music that runs from almost the first to the last frame. It is bone-deep satisfying as a cinematic experience, exactly what Coogler set out to do. It’s a bloody good time in the theater, a testament to why the experience of seeing a great movie on a big screen in a large, dark room filled mostly with strangers is unimprovable. It was a big swing for Coogler and Warner Bros., but in retrospect, with a filmmaker this talented being allowed to tell a story this personal with a cast this good, it feels about as certain as a great blues song is to get people moving—even vampires.

Sinners is in theaters now.

For more on Sinners, check out these stories:

Ryan Coogler Does it Again: The Auteur’s Ambitious Epic “Sinners” Wins Box Office Crown

Ryan Coogler’s Big Swing With “Sinners” is Also a Love Letter to the Movie Theater

Ryan Coogler Unpacks the Ferocious Trailer For his Genre-Fluid New Film “Sinners”

Featured image: Caption: MICHAEL B. JORDAN as Smoke in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “SINNERS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures