bitchy | Hollywood is furious that Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ is already hugely successful

Without a doubt, Ryan Coogler is one of the most important filmmakers working today. Coogler isn’t even 40 years old and he’s already directed nine films, including Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, Wakanda Forever and now Sinners. Fruitvale Station was the film which got me to sit up and notice Coogler’s work and people still sleep on that brilliantly done film. Well, Coogler spent years putting together Sinners, his original horror story of vampires in the Jim Crow South. Sinners got phenomenal reviews across the board, and it felt like everyone on my timeline went to see it over Easter weekend. In fact, Sinners dethroned The Minecraft Movie at #1 on the box office. But instead of praising Coogler for creating such a wonderfully original film, this is how everyone’s reporting the success: “‘Sinners’ Is a Box Office Success (With a Big Asterisk); Ryan Coogler’s original horror film was expected to sell a strong $46 million in tickets over the weekend, enough for No. 1. But its profitability remains a long way off.” That’s from the NY Times, but the trade papers took similar angles: sure, Sinners won the box office, but why isn’t it profitable yet???

“Sinners” sold an estimated $46 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 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.

This is the root of the problem, according to the Times, the trade papers and Hollywood’s white gatekeepers: “The studio also agreed to demands by Mr. Coogler’s representatives for unusually generous compensation.” That sentence pisses me off more than I can even verbalize. Coogler’s films have already crossed $2 billion cumulatively. Coogler didn’t “demand” anything – he has a proven track record of returning studio investment, and he negotiated a deal similar to what Quentin Tarantino negotiates. The deal being: Warner Bros gave Coogler $90 million to make Sinners, Coogler gets a front-end percentage of box-office receipts AND ownership of Sinners reverts back to him after 25 years. Basically, a Black filmmaker with a proven track record of successful films negotiated a great deal for what many thought was a passion project which would have next to no audience. They’re mad that Sinners is already successful and will continue to be successful as a word-of-mouth hit.

Entertainment media is being weird over a Black-directed movie again, example #4532

(Btw each of these articles are written by non-Black journalists)

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— Juwan H. ✍🏾 (@juwanthecurator.bsky.social) April 20, 2025 at 3:49 PM

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.