Box Office: 'Sinners' Nabs Decade's Top Debut For Original Movie

Rank is trivia, but Ryan Coogler's R-rated, 2.25-hour period piece won the weekend with $48 million, the biggest non-sequel horror launch since Jordan Peele's 'Us'

Rank is immaterial and mostly of value for promotional widgets. The raw number is what matters, and every film competes primarily with itself. However, it will save me time to merely note that Sinners *topped* the weekend box office with $48 million in North America rather than explain that “Wait, this is a terrific debut even if A Minecraft Movie placed first!”

But yes, whatever pessimism or “I dare not hope!” cynicism I offered up yesterday, brought about by a decade of audiences not showing up to what they claim to want to see in theaters, is for now replaced with at least a cautious optimism. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners just earned the biggest opening weekend thus far this decade for a wholly original film.

The Warner Bros. Discovery release, written and directed by Coogler and starring not just Jordan but also Jordan, just earned the biggest launch for any original, horror or otherwise, since Jordan Peele’s Us ($71 million) in early 2019. It bested the $44 million launch of Peele’s Nope in July 2022 to nab the biggest “not based on anything” opening of the 2020s. It’s the largest horror launch since last June’s $53 million Fri-Sun debut for the Lupita Nyong’o-starring A Quiet Place: Day One. Hey, wait a minute…!