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    “Sinners” Stays Strong Atop Box Office As A 20-Year Old “Star Wars” Film Takes 2nd Place

    By SHOOTNo Comments311 Views
    This image released by Warner Bros Pictures shows Michael B. Jordan, right, in a scene from "Sinners." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

    By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    Horror movies are often one-week wonders at the box office, but Ryan Coogler’s”Sinners” is defying the odds and proving to be true event cinema.

    In its second weekend in theaters, “Sinners” earned $45 million in ticket sales from theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday. That’s down a miniscule 6% from its Easter holiday launch, the smallest drop in any genre since “Avatar” in 2009. Worldwide, “Sinners” has now made $161.6 million.

    For the industry, the showing proves the film’s reach has broadened beyond horror fans to mainstream audiences wanting to see what the hype is about. Last weekend, men made up 56% of the audience. This weekend, the gender divide narrowed to 50/50. Premium large format showings, like the 70mm IMAX screens, are also a big draw. IMAX screens worldwide accounted for some 21% of the second weekend globally, a nearly 9% increase from last weekend.

    The original ensemble movie, starring Michael B. Jordan as twins, rode into theaters on a wave of great reviews. And, to be fair, “Sinners” isn’t simply a horror film: It blends elements of drama, action and musical into its southern gothic milieu.

    “That’s one of the lowest second weekend holds for an overperforming wide release ever,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “It’s an absolute phenomenon.”

    Hollywood expects significant drop off in a movie’s second week of release. Even a 50% dip is considered a solid number, baked into the movie math. When it’s anything less than that, it’s notable.

    “You can buy a great opening weekend with marketing, but if a movie doesn’t have the goods, it’ll drop off,” Dergarabedian said. “There’s no greater barometer of success than a second weekend hold like this.”

    The film was produced by Coogler’s Proximity Media and Warner Bros., which handled the theatrical release. After some disappointments earlier in the year, it’s the second major win for the studio after “A Minecraft Movie” helped energize the box office earlier this month.

    “Sinners” easily topped the biggest new competition this week: “The Accountant 2,” a sequel starring Ben Affleck and released by Amazon MGM Studios, which opened in third place with an estimated $24.5 million in its first weekend. Gavin O’Connor directed the film, which played in 3,610 theaters in North America. Audiences gave it a promising A- CinemaScore.

    The film that beat “The Accountant 2” for second place was a 20-year-old Star Wars movie: “Revenge of the Sith.” The anniversary re-release took in an estimated $25.2 million over the weekend, with many sellouts reported, more than doubling last year’s release of “The Phantom Menace.” Internationally, it earned $17 million from 34 territories, giving it a $42.2 million global weekend. It’s one of the top grossing re-releases ever.

    “A Minecraft Movie” landed in fourth place with $22.7 million, bringing its domestic total to around $380 million.

    The scary video game adaptation “Until Dawn” also opened this weekend to an estimated $8 million, rounding out the top five. Sony Pictures released the film, starring Ella Rubin and Michael Cimino, which has earned $18.1 million globally.

    The “Minecraft” and “Sinners” wins have meant a huge boost for the April box office, which is up 102% from April 2024. The annual box office is also up over 10% from last year after running at a double-digit deficit in March. And this is all happening right before the industry’s summer movie season kicks off on May 2 with Disney’s “Thunderbolts(asterisk).”

    “There cannot be a better opening act for the summer movie season than this weekend,” Dergarabedian said.

    Top 10 movies by domestic box office
    With final domestic figures due Monday, the following list factors in estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

    1. “Sinners,” $45 million.
    2. “Revenge of the Sith,” $25.2 million.
    3. “The Accountant 2,” $24.5 million.
    4. “A Minecraft Movie,” $22.7 million.
    5. “Until Dawn,” $8 million.
    6. “The King of Kings,” $4 million.
    7. “The Amateur,” $3.8 million.
    8. “Warfare,” $2.7 million.
    9. “Pink Floyd at Pompeii — MCMLXXII,” $2.6 million.
    10. “The Legend of Ochi,” $1.4 million.

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    Category:News
    Tags:box officeRevenge of the SithSinnersThe Accountant 2



    Richard Linklater Unveils “Nouvelle Vague,” His Ode To The French New Wave, At Cannes Film Fest

    Sunday, May 18, 2025

    When Richard Linklater first started thinking about making a film about the French New Wave, he figured he'd show it all everywhere except one place.

    "I thought: They'll hate that an American director did this," Linklater said Sunday. "We'll show this film all over the world, but never in France."

    But Linklater nevertheless unveiled "Nouvelle Vague" on Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival, bringing film about the making of Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" to the very heart of the French film industry. It was, Linklater granted, an audacious thing to do.

    And "Nouvelle Vague" went down as one of the biggest successes of the festival. At a Cannes that's been largely characterized by darker, more portentous dramas, "Nouvelle Vague" was cheered as an enchanting ode to moviemaking.

    "Nouvelle Vague" is an uncanny kind of recreation. In black-and-white and in the style of the French New Wave, it chronicles the making of one of the most celebrated French films of all time. With sunglasses that never come off his face, Guillaume Marbeck plays 29-year-old Godard as he's making his first feature, trying to launch himself as a film director and upend filmmaking convention.

    Linklater's movie, which is for sale at Cannes and competing for the Palme d'Or, is in French. It not only goes day-by-day through the making of "Breathless," it endeavors to capture the entire movement of one of the most fabled eras of moviemaking. Truffaut, Varda, Chabrol, Melville, Rohmer, Rossellini and Rivette are just some of the famous filmmakers who drift in and out of the movie.

    Linklater told reporters Sunday that he wanted audiences to feel "like they were hanging out with Nouvelle Vague in 1959."

    "It was an old idea of some colleagues of mine," said... Read More

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