The Big Bite of Sinners: A Fresh Look at the Weekend Box Office

The weekend box office is heating up with some serious competition. Sinners, a period vampire flick, is making waves with a strong $4. 7 million haul on Thursday. This is a big deal because it's a unique movie, not based on any existing story or real-life events. It's also the first time that Warner Bros. movie chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy have fully backed a project from start to finish. This is a big risk, but it could pay off big time. The movie has some serious advantages. It reunites director Ryan Coogler with his frequent star, Michael B. Jordan. This duo has a track record of success, from the indie hit Fruitvale Station to the Black Panther franchise. Plus, Sinners has a stellar 97% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, the best of Coogler’s career. This is a big deal because it shows that critics are really impressed with the movie. But will the audience feel the same way? Warner Bros. is playing it safe, aiming for a $35 million to $40 million opening weekend. But tracking services are more optimistic, predicting $40 million to $45 million. Some rival studios think it could even hit $50 million. It's a gamble, considering the movie is R-rated and set in a specific time period. But with a $90 million budget, it's clear that Warner Bros. is betting big on this one. Meanwhile, Minecraft is still going strong. The video game adaptation has already made over $300 million domestically and is on track to become one of the top video game movies of all time. It's also the top-grossing movie of 2025 so far, which is a big win for De Luca and Abdy. Sinners is a big deal for De Luca and Abdy. It shows their commitment to working with high-profile directors and giving them the freedom to make the movies they want. It's a risky move, but if it pays off, it could be a defining moment for their careers. The movie is set in 1932 and stars Jordan as identical twin entrepreneurs, Smoke and Stack. After surviving World War I and Chicago gangland, the brothers return to their segregated Mississippi Delta hometown with a plan to open a juke joint. But things don't go as planned, and they encounter some unexpected horrors. It's a unique story with plenty of thematic layers and genre fluidity. In other words, it's a movie that could keep audiences talking long after the credits roll.