Sinners has accomplished a box office achievement that hasn’t happened in a decade and a half. The new horror movie reteams director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan after the duo collaborated on Fruitvale Station, Creed, and both Black Panther movies. The Sinners release has gotten off to a great start, toppling A Minecraft Movie from its perch atop the chart during its third weekend in theaters with a domestic debut of $48 million that marked the best Easter weekend debut for an R-rated movie in history.
Per The Numbers, on Tuesday, April 22, Sinners saw a 10% rise at the domestic box office from Monday. In addition to being a relatively unusual occurence in general, especially because of the post-Easter Monday giving many ticketbuyers the day off, box office columnist Scott Mendelson points out on X that this is the best that an Easter weekend release has performed on the Tuesday after its opening weekend since the release of Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2009. It follows what was already a minimal drop of 37% between Sunday and Monday.
Mendelson jokingly points out that “Hollywood should release more movies on Easter with one movie star playing two characters.” See the post below:
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What This Means For Sinners
It Has Outdone Many Major Hollywood Hits
This box office accomplishment is remarkable for Sinners, especially considering the number of box office hits that have premiered over the Easter period. The Ryan Coogler movie has achieved something that outdoes the likes of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 1999’s The Matrix, and 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Below, see a financial breakdown of the five best-performing movies that debuted over Easter weekend, all of which have debuted in the period between 2009 and 2025:
|
тιтle |
Opening Weekend |
Tuesday Drop |
Worldwide Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Furious 7 (2015) |
$147.2 million |
-5% |
$1.515 billion |
|
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) |
$146.4 million |
-23.1% |
$1.361 billion |
|
The Fate of the Furious (2017) |
$98.8 million |
-4.4% |
$1.236 billion |
|
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) |
$166 million |
-19% |
$874.4 million |
|
Ready Player One (2018) |
$41.7 million |
+2.9% |
$583.5 million |
However, the movie still has a major hurdle to overcome. The Sinners budget is reportedly $90 million, which is an unusually high price tag for an original horror movie. This could mean that the movie’s break-even point is $225 million, requiring an astounding audience hold in order for it to actually turn a profit in theaters. However, so far, wooing its audience has not proved to be a problem. In addition to this record post-Easter Tuesday, it is the first horror movie in history to receive an A CinemaScore and has a Verified H๏τ Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 97%.
Our Take On The Sinners Box Office
It Could Be A Good Sign For Original Filmmaking
Even if it doesn’t break even in theaters, this run of stellar box office accomplishments for Sinners is nevertheless a very good sign for original films in 2025. While Ryan Coogler is a brand unto himself, the fact that his new movie is already the highest-grossing original movie of the year could speak to an increased interest in original storytelling. This enthusiasm could potentially spread toward other original wide-release movies that are set to debut throughout the year, including Elio, Eddington, HIM, and Weapons.
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Source: The Numbers & Scott Mendelson/X
