Why Is ‘Sinners’ a Rare Box Office and Critical Success?

May 13, 2025
Michael B. Jordan illustrated into an orange and blue background.

“Sinners,” starring Michael B. Jordan, tells the story of twin brothers who confront supernatural dangers and racist violence in the Jim Crow South. (Photo by , .; illustration by John DiJulio, University Communications)

Editor’s Note: Since this story was first published, Ryan Coogler’s latest film received a record 16 Academy Award nominations, the most ever for a single film. The nominations include best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor and multiple technical categories.

Weeks after its release, director Ryan Coogler’s period horror movie “Sinners” continues to attract large audiences.

After Hollywood endured a slow winter at the box office, the film has earned more than $280 million worldwide, according to the Hollywood Reporter – a rarity for original screenplays. It is also the only horror movie in 35 years of exit polling to earn an “A” grade from market research firm CinemaScore, and it has a 97% score on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a movie from Coogler – the talented Black writer and director who was also the creative force behind “Black Panther” and “Creed” – would be both critically and commercially successful.

“We are often surprised that horror has an incredible audience reception, when, in fact, we have about a century of horror movies where we can have this very same conversation,” said Robin Means Coleman, a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and an expert in Black horror films.

Portraits of Robin Coleman and A.D. Carson

Robin Coleman, left, is an expert in Black horror films, while A.D. Carson is a professor of hip-hop at UVA. (Left, contributed photo; right, University Communications)

Coleman attributes the word-of-mouth success of “Sinners” to one simple fact: It’s a good movie. Combine that with Coogler’s track record and a star lead actor in Michael B. Jordan, and success seems inevitable. But audiences and reviewers seem shocked when a scary movie becomes popular, even though it’s a fairly common occurrence.

“Almost decade by decade, we have a film that captures folks’ imagination,” Coleman said, citing movies like “Night of the Living Dead” and “Blacula.” “Before ‘Sinners,’ it was ‘Get Out,’ but there is something really important and unique about ‘Sinners.’ It’s a deeply interdisciplinary film.”

“Sinners” tells the tale of Smoke and Stack, twin brothers who return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, from Chicago in 1932 to open a juke joint. Tensions are high from the beginning, as Smoke and Stack buy their future juke joint from a leader of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. As the movie progresses, it becomes clear the brothers have to fend off supernatural dangers in addition to the Klan.

“Sinners” spends about half its 2-hour, 17-minute runtime establishing its characters and their relationships to each other.

“The first half of the movie does feel like a drama, but we know that during this period in the Mississippi Delta, there’s danger for these folks around every corner,” whether from petty thieves or racist violence, Coleman said – and that’s before any vampires show up.

Music also plays a central role in the film, adding to its interdisciplinary nature: The Mississippi Delta is known as the birthplace of the blues, and the brothers enlist several musicians, including their little cousin Sammie, to perform at their juke joint on opening night. A dance hall scene shows the past, present and future of Black music, Coleman said.

In a climactic scene, the vampire Remmick tells Sammie he wants his songs and his stories, becoming both literally and metaphorically vampiric.

“The movie shows the powerful role music has played even in the most tumultuous times throughout American history. Even the moniker ‘Jim Crow’ is a reference to music, song and dance from the country’s obsession with blackface minstrelsy,” said A.D. Carson, associate professor of hip-hop and the Global South at UVA.

During the last 10 years, a number of Black horror movies have gained mainstream popularity, namely the director Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” “Us” and “Nope.” Coleman said while Coogler has a different style than Peele, “Sinners” may start a trend.

“We have these absolutely popular Black horror films from the ’70s that we don’t get to talk about, because they were on fewer screens in mostly Black neighborhoods,” Coleman said. “Now, with the success of ‘Get Out,’ we have big studios wanting to make these movies. Ryan Coogler has a proven track record already.

“People are absolutely going to want to duplicate the success of this movie.”

Media Contacts

Alice Berry

University News Associate Office of University Communications

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