‘Sinners’ Continues to Dominate the Box Office

Sinnersis really taking a bite out of the box office. Ryan Coogler’s vampire flick is continuing its remarkable run in theaters and the movie still has a hold on audiences in its second week. The Daily Beast reports that the Michael B. Jordan-starring film scored the smallest second-week decline of any film that opened with more than $40 million since 2009’s Avatar and the smallest ever for an R-rated or horror movie.

It’s another hit for the team of Coogler and Jordan; the director and his leading man first collaborated on the indie hit Fruitvale Station back in 2013, before teaming up in blockbusters like the Marvel superhero smash Black Panther and the first two Creed films.

The film's ongoing success comes amidst some media hand-wringing about the terms of Coogler’s arrangement with Sinner’s studio Warner Bros., which includes the studio offering $90 million for Coogler to make the film, an agreement to give him a cut of the ticket sales, and a clause that stipulates the studio will relinquish ownership of the film to Coogler after 25 years.

“I’ll maybe add some context that maybe those articles didn’t add: I’m not the first filmmaker to get any of these deals. And Warner Bros. is not the first studio to provide these deals to a filmmaker,” Coogler explained during an interview with Democracy Now journalist Amy Goodman.

“I think that a lot has been made of my deal in particular, I’m not totally sure why. I have my guesses, but I’ve been in the industry long enough to know what deals are possible and nothing about this deal is a new thing.”