When a movie has its second weekend at the box office, the baseline expectation is that ticket sales will drop about 50 percent. If it has particularly strong hype going for it, that drop may be closer to 40 percent, but if interest is fading fast, the number may rise to 60 percent or above. I feel compelled to present this context today, because what Ryan Coogler‘s Sinners has accomplished over the last three days is simply spectacular.
The crime/horror film starring Michael B. Jordan was a big success when it premiered last weekend, making $48 million and easily topping the domestic box office… and over the past three days, it managed to do almost identical business. It’s an unheard of success at this time of the year, particularly when it had some standout competition. Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
|
TITLE |
WEEKEND GROSS |
DOMESTIC GROSS |
LW |
THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1. Sinners |
$45,000,000 |
$122,526,000 |
1 |
3,347 |
|
2. Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge Of The Sith |
$25,200,000 |
$405,470,577 |
N/A |
2,775 |
|
3. The Accountant 2* |
$24,492,743 |
$24,492,743 |
N/A |
3,610 |
|
4. A Minecraft Movie |
$22,720,000 |
$379,967,000 |
2 |
3,841 |
|
5. Until Dawn* |
$8,015,000 |
$8,015,000 |
N/A |
3,055 |
|
6. The King Of Kings |
$4,018,664 |
$54,514,364 |
3 |
3,175 |
|
7. The Amateur |
$3,800,000 |
$33,855,020 |
4 |
3,060 |
|
8. Warfare |
$2,652,229 |
$21,800,596 |
5 |
1,905 |
|
9. The Legend Of Ochi* |
$1,443,157 |
$1,509,628 |
N/A |
1,153 |
|
10. Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii* |
$1,322,827 |
$2,620,076 |
N/A |
654 |
Sinners Basically Repeats Its Opening Weekend As It Reaches $100 Million Domestically
Six percent. That is the exceptionally tiny difference between the amount of money that Sinners made in its first weekend compared to what it made in its second. In the last three days, the new Ryan Coogler film has added an estimated $45 million to its coffers domestically (according to The Numbers), and its total ticket sale gross from the United States and Canada has now gone over nine figures.
So what has motivated this success? It’s not exactly a difficult puzzle to figure out. Sinners arrived in theaters riding a high wave of buzz thanks to an overwhelmingly positive critical response, people saw the movie, they loved the movie, and then they told all of their friends and loved-ones that it was a must-see cinematic experience (which it most definitely is, as I note in my five-star CinemaBlend review). Hype and repeat viewings – let’s not forget that it got an “A” grade from CinemaScore surveys – resulted in what amounts to an encore performance.
How great are this weekend’s numbers in a broader 2025 view? That $45 million is one of the Top 5 weekends thus far, and it’s more than what Marc Webb‘s Snow White earned during its first three days when it arrived in theaters in late March ($42.2 million). After a little over a week, Sinners is now the third highest grossing film of the year domestically, having made $122.5 million so far – which clears the $98 million that Peter Hastings’ Dog Man made during its full theatrical run.
It’s a notable success given that reports about Sinners‘ opening weekend numbers featured a great deal of hand-wringing about the movie’s $90 million budget (per Variety). That’s a lot of money to be spent on a wholly original feature these days, but audiences are showing the studio that it was a wise investment.
Outside the United States and Canada, the ticket sales have been notably slower, with the domestic market making up over 75 percent of the title’s theatrical grosses to date. Overseas, the movie has made a reported $39.1 million, which brings the Ryan Coogler film’s global gross to $161.6 million. That’s enough money to already put the title in sixth place on the worldwide rankings, and it only needs to make about $34 million more before it passes Snow White (which mas made $195.2 million to date but is still playing).
What makes this accomplishment all the more awesome is that it is not as though Sinners is the only film playing right now. Not only is Jared Hess’ The Minecraft Movie still putting butts in seats, the weekend saw the arrival of two new wide releases from major studios – and they actually both performed modestly well within context (not to mention that a re-release of George Lucas‘ Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith managed to arrive in second place adding $25.2 million to its box office legacy).
The Accountant 2 And Until Dawn Have To Respectively Settle For Third And Fifth Place During A Busy Weekend At The Box Office
Sinners will get all of the headlines this weekend for its brilliant box office performance (and deservedly so), but just because Gavin O’Conner’s The Accountant 2 and David F. Sandberg‘s Until Dawn arrived in its shadow doesn’t mean that they had bad weekends. In fact, the industry and a very healthy weekend overall, which isn’t always the case when the big new wide releases have to settle for spots in the middle/lower half of the Top 5.
In the case of The Accountant 2, it’s important to note that the sequel cost twice as much to make as its 2016 predecessor, but arriving about nine years later, it managed to match its opening weekend business. The original made $24.7 million in its first three days, and the follow-up made $24.5 million. That obviously puts the 2025 release on the same exact box office pace, but there is presumably hope that it will have longer legs thanks to a now established audience. Also directed by Gavin O’Conner, The Accountant finished its worldwide theatrical run making about $153 million, and The Account 2 is obviously going to have to do better than that because of its price tag.
Until Dawn has a smaller mountain to climb despite the fact that it failed to make 10-figures in its opening weekend. The video game adaptation – which is notably not a direct adaptation – got a very mixed response from critics (I personally gave it three stars in my CinemaBlend review), but there was enough curiosity to see the film make a little over $8 million in the last three days. Factoring in the $10 million it has made abroad, its worldwide haul presently stands at $18.1 million, which isn’t a bad spot when one considers that the production had a pre-marketing $15 million budget.
That brings us to the end of this week’s box office report, but you should definitely head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday, as a brand new Marvel Cinematic Universe title will be playing in theaters starting Friday – specifically Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts* – and its arrival should significantly shake up the landscape.