Sinners has had a record-breaking opening weekend where it beat the third weekend of A Minecraft Movie, a viral video game adaptation starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa that swiftly became the second highest-grossing movie of 2025 so far and is in the middle of what may turn out to be a billion-dollar run. The new horror movie, which was directed by Ryan Coogler, stars Just Mercy‘s Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers. This is the fifth Coogler-directed movie in which Jordan has appeared, after Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Although Michael B. Jordan plays two characters, the remainder of the Sinners cast is nevertheless robust and star-studded. Jordan’s co-stars include Pitch Perfect and Hawkeye star Hailee Steinfeld, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in 2010’s True Grit, Delroy Lindo, a Tony nominee whose recent roles include appearances in The Harder They Fall and Da 5 Bloods, Jack O’Connell, who played Louis Zamperini in 2014’s Unbroken, Wunmi Mosaku, who is known for her roles in Lovecraft Country, Loki, and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, and Li Jun Li, a television veteran known for Fox’s The Exorcist and ABC’s Quantico.

Sinners Made $61 Million Worldwide In its Opening Weekend

It Took No. 1 At The Domestic Box Office

The Sinners release kicked off by making a splash at the worldwide box office. As reflected by the projections that were released by Variety on Sunday morning, the movie is set to close out its opening weekend by taking in a 3-day total of $45.6 million at the domestic box office. When combined with the $15.4 million it earned in international markets, this gives the horror movie a global debut total of $61 million. This is the most that an original movie has earned during its opening weekend in the entirety of the 2020s so far.

Additionally, this global opening weekend total means that Sinners has become one of the highest grossing movies of 2025 within the span of just three days. At the time of writing, it is No. 11 on the worldwide chart of 2025 movies, landing just outside the Top 10, which ranges from The Amateur ($64.3 million) at No. 10 to Ne Zha 2 ($1.898 billion) at No. 1. The horror movie has already outgrossed a number of movies that have been in theaters for considerably longer, including Den of Thieves: Pantera ($57.3 million), Flight Risk ($44.4 million), and Companion ($36.7 million).

Sinners Took No. 1 Over A Minecraft Movie

It Prematurely Ended Minecraft’s Streak Atop The Chart

Another of Sinners‘ achievements is that it knocked A Minecraft Movie from the top of the chart, ending its No. 1 streak after just two weekends. It managed to do so in spite of the fact that it had a great deal of compeтιтion from other new releases like the 20th anniversary re-release of Pride & Prejudice as well as holdover тιтles such as the faith-based animated hit The King of Kings, the Alex Garland movie Warfare, and the Rami Malek action movie The Amateur. Below, see the full domestic box office Top 5 for the weekend of April 18:

One reason why this may be the case is the fact that Sinners reviews have been glowing across the board. In addition to earning a near-perfect Certified Fresh score of 98% from critics on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, audiences that were polled during the movie’s opening weekend gave it a CinemaScore of A, which is the highest score that has ever been given to a horror movie.

Additionally, the combination of director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan has proven to be potent at the box office. Together, they have smashed multiple box office records, with Black Panther notably becoming the highest-grossing February movie at the domestic box office as well as the highest-grossing movie from a Black director, so their new collaboration may have been enticing to audiences in the same way in spite of the fact that it is an original movie not attached to a major franchise.

How Sinners’ Opening Weekend Compares To Other R-Rated Horror Movies

It Has Had One Of The Genre’s Best Debuts

In addition to topping the domestic box office chart for the weekend, the Michael B. Jordan movie has earned the ninth-best domestic debut of all time for an R-rated horror movie. Below, see a breakdown of the ten R-rated horror movies with the best opening weekends at the domestic box office:

Because an R rating restricts the amount of people who can see a movie by severely limiting the age range of ticketbuyers, such movies are very frequently outgrossed by movies that are rated PG-13 or lower. However, by landing in the Top 10, Sinners has proven that it has connected with adult audiences in a way that very few original horror movies have. In fact, the only other non-franchise movie on the chart is Jordan Peele’s Us, which had the fourth-best debut of all time for an R-rated horror movie.

Sinners Broke A Record For Easter Weekend Releases

It Outshone A David Fincher Movie

Another major record that Sinners has set is the fact that it has earned the ninth-best domestic debut for an Easter weekend release. Below, see how it stands among the Top 10 Easter weekend debuts of all time:

In addition to landing in the Top 10 in general, the new Ryan Coogler movie has earned the highest-grossing Easter weekend debut for an R-rated movie at the domestic box office. The previous record-holder was David Fincher’s Panic Room, which remained on top for more than two decades after grossing $33 million when it debuted over Easter weekend in 2002.

Sinners Reportedly Cost $90 Million To Make – Will That Hurt It?

It Has A Long Way To Go In Order To Break Even

In spite of its enormous box office success, the new horror movie may be facing a major hurdle because the Sinners budget is reportedly $90 million. Because theaters keep half of ticket sales and marketing costs are not factored into production budgets, generally, movies need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in order to turn a profit in theaters, which could place the release’s break-even point somewhere around $225 million. This will be a tall order for the movie even in the wake of a record-breaking opening weekend.

In order for Sinners to hit that break-even point, it would need to earn five times its global opening weekend by the end of its run. This is a highly unlikely outcome for any movie, let alone an R-rated horror movie. However, of the eight R-rated horror movies that had higher opening weekends at the domestic box office, six grossed more than $225 million by the end of their runs. If the new movie can harness its unprecedented CinemaScore to build a strong word-of-mouth campaign, turning a profit could very well be within the realm of possibility.

Source(s): Variety