Sinners is sweeping the movie industry right now, making for a kind of phenomenon we only see very rarely. Directed by Ryan Coogler of Creed and Black Panther fame, starring his regular leading man Michael B. Jordan, Sinners is a celebration of history and community combined with an action-packed vampire horror, all while being a movie that is only sort of a musical in a very thrilling way. Jordan leads Sinners’ cast as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return to their Mississippi hometown with hopes of opening up a juke joint, which ends in bloody chaos.

Sinners’ reviews praise it for much more than its strong vampire action when the movie covers themes including found family, connection through music, ᴀssimilation, personal corruption, and more, and Screen Rant‘s Mae Abdulbaki says “the exquisite vampire horror is already one of the best films of the year.” People can’t get enough of this electric, well-paced hit that makes it feel like the golden age of Hollywood could be reclaimed after all, bringing to mind another recent and instantly iconic fantasy movie that also broke the mold for prestigious awards shows.

Sinners Looks Like 2025’s Version Of Everything Everywhere All At Once

Movie History Is Repeating Itself In The Best Way Possible

In March 2022, the directorial duo known as “The Daniels” released Everything Everywhere All at Once, a strange indie film that had managed to ᴀssemble a unique mix of recognized A-listers and underappreciated talent for what is called an “absurdist comedy-drama” plot. The directors had seen some well-reviewed work but were hardly heavy box office hitters. However, Everything Everywhere All at Once quickly took off, grossing an amazing $143 million worldwide when it only had a budget of $25 million. Word of mouth then did the rest, and everyone soon knew it was something truly special.

Similarly, no one had any reason to think that Sinners would be bad, but maybe didn’t expect it to become a burgeoning cultural touchstone. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan had plenty of goodwill with the industry, and it would be a nice change of pace to see them working outside an established franchise, even if it was a quieter release. However, like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Sinners made a splash from the start and has been on the rise ever since. Sinners has broken box office records and could easily be many people’s favorite film of the year.

Which naturally translates to awards talk when many would love to see it dominate the 2026 Oscars. Sinners would be at a fundamental disadvantage when many movies that come out earlier in the year simply miss the train on awarding bodies’ attention. However, Everything Everywhere All at Once also came out in the spring, prompted talk about awards season early, and saw this all the way to a Best Picture win. In other words, this is certainly possible now for Sinners.

Sinners’ Genre-Bending Story & Deep Themes Are Similar To Everything Everywhere All At Once

EEAAO & Sinners Are Both Crazy, Hard-To-Define Movies With Such Heartfelt Themes

To put it simply, we had never seen anything like Everything Everywhere All at Once before, and I am still astounded by the weirdest things that it does that somehow still demand to be taken seriously. From talking rocks to Ratatouille with a raccoon to the most bizarre fight scenes ever, this movie truly embraces the vision of the multiverse where everything you can possibly think of exists out there somewhere. Yet this concept is gracefully bound together by the motif of choosing the things that matter despite crushing nihilism being the obvious answer and giving each universe its own happy ending.

Sinners takes after the genre-bending Best Picture winner by pushing the envelope on the vampire genre, meshing it with musical numbers and even some elements of time travel. However, Sinners and Everything Everywhere All at Once find their most important commonality in the theme of family. Each movie comes down to the importance of family, stressing the empowerment found in it in a nonsensical and often cruel world. Each movie is about a specific cultural experience (a modern-day Chinese immigrant family vs. a mostly Black community in 1930s Mississippi) but tells us that family, connection, and humanity are universal.

Sinners Has Already Beaten Everything Everywhere All At Once At The Box Office & On Rotten Tomatoes

Is Sinners Better Than Everything Everywhere All At Once?

Is Sinners actually better than Everything Everywhere All at Once? This is subjective and comes down to personal genre preferences, favorite actors, or an aversion to gore that would make the latter the better choice. However, Sinners currently holds a 98% critics’ approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes against Everything Everywhere‘s 94%. Admittedly, as the dust settles and the initial awe of the movie dies down, Sinners may fall just a little bit, but it still has four points to go before it is no longer “better” than its predecessor.

On the other hand, box office numbers can only go up. While Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s grand total ended up being $143 million, Sinners is currently at $168 million worldwide and is still in theaters with the potential to earn more. Sinners’ budget is $90 million, meaning it won’t make as much of a profit. However, it was probably easier to market as a straightforward vampire horror with the promise of more depth from Coogler’s writing and direction, rather than Everywhere Everywhere’s completely out-there concept.

Will Sinners Match Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Oscars Performance?

Everything Everywhere All At Once Scored 11 Nominations & 7 Wins

Sinners could be a huge Oscars winner next year, but I don’t see it quite matching Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s numbers. The latter pulled off the incredible feat of winning three out of the four acting categories, and I would guess that Michael B. Jordan is the only real acting contender for Sinners. Jack O’Connell and Delroy Lindo might pull Supporting Actor nominations, but it’s unlikely either of them would win. A huge push for Everything Everywhere was its performances, which masterfully tied together alternate versions of the characters and the overall themes.

Sinners demonstrates the technical prowess to make it a true compeтιтor in many of the other categories Everything Everywhere All at Once won. If this truly is Ryan Coogler’s best movie yet, it would make sense for him to win Best Director for it. He could also easily get Best Original Screenplay, which has gone to the horror genre in relatively recent years with the groundbreaking masterpiece of Get Out. Unlike Everything Everywhere, cinematography might be a possibility for Sinners.

Where Sinners could also be a winner and catch up with Everything Everywhere All at Once in number of nominations/wins is sound. Sinners is notably managing more distinctive sound editing, and music plays a larger role in the story. Hailee Steinfeld’s original song “Dangerous” isn’t going to win when it’s inevitably going to have to compete with Wicked 2‘s new songs, but Original Score could happen. Overall, critics appreciate Sinners now, and that adoration could only strengthen in the next year.