‘Sinners’ finds redemption with top spot at weekend box office

By Auzinea Bacon, CNN

(CNN) — Ryan Coogler’s supernatural horror “Sinners” drove a stake through the competition this weekend to finish No. 1 at the box office while shattering industry expectations.

“Sinners” pulled in $45.6 million domestically, surpassing estimates of about $35 million, and edging “A Minecraft Movie,” which grossed $41.3 million in its third weekend, to put its domestic total at nearly $345 million.

Both “Sinners” and “A Minecraft Movie” are distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.

Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory, told CNN that “Sinners” was boosted by the duo of Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan, who have teamed up on four films, including Disney’s “Black Panther.”

“That star power for ‘Sinners’ (and) really kind of a fresh, original take on the vampire movie (genre) … helped bring out moviegoers,” he said.

“Sinners” has also been boosted by critics’ reviews, which can help a film’s long-term box-office success. It has a 98% rating on movie-ratings site Rotten Tomatoes and an 84 score — the seventh highest for a film in 2025 — on Metacritic.

“This may be one of the best-reviewed No. 1 films ever, especially for the horror genre,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore.

The success of “Sinners” is encouraging for the horror genre, which was most successful in 2017, when “It” and “Get Out” were released, according to Dergarabedian. Horror movies earned more than $1 billion at the box office in 2017, according to Comscore data. In 2024, the genre earned $948 million.

“Horror movies can be very budget-friendly and have a very strong profitability factor, so that makes them particularly of interest to studios and filmmakers,” Dergarabedian told CNN.

Universal Pictures is set to release two horror sequels this year, “M3GAN 2.0” and “Black Phone 2” in June and October, respectively.

Meanwhile, the industry’s overall domestic earnings, which were down 13% at the opening of “A Minecraft Movie,” are now up 5.3% compared to 2024, according to Comscore.

Box office analyst David A. Gross of FranchiseRe said “A Minecraft Movie” is trekking toward $1 billion at the worldwide box office. After its strong opening, the fantasy adventure comedy has gone viral for engaging audiences with its chicken jockey scene.

“Audiences are totally engaged — this is mainstream action-adventure entertainment at its best,” Gross told CNN.

Dergarabedian expects the overall box office to maintain this momentum as the first slate of summer movies debuts in May, followed by a strong Memorial Day weekend with Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”

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