Sinners box office explained: How it beat A Minecraft Movie

Michael B. Jordan in Sinners and Jack Black in A Minecraft Movie

Sinners, Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s acclaimed vampire horror, is off to an extraordinary start at the box office – and it even dethroned A Minecraft Movie.

The new film follows Smoke and Stack (Jordan), twin brothers who return home to the Mississippi Delta to open a juke joint. As the sun sets and people start to dance, a smily Irishman (Jack O’Connell) appears and asks to be invited in – and all hell breaks loose.

It’s one of the best-reviewed wide-release films of the decade, earning 98% and 97% certified critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes and the first ‘A’ CinemaScore for a horror movie ever.

So, unsurprisingly, there was a bit of buzz around its opening weekend, with people all over the world flocking to cinemas to see what the fuss is about.

How much has Sinners made at the box office?

Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in Sinners

Sinners has made $61 million worldwide so far. In its opening weekend, it made $45.6m from the US alone, with $15.4m coming from international markets.

That’s a huge accomplishment for an R-rated original project. In fact, it’s the decade’s best box office debut for an original movie since Jordan Peele’s Nope in 2022, and it’s the biggest launch for any original film since Peele’s Us in 2019.

Even more notably, it beat A Minecraft Movie at the domestic box office. The video game adaptation fell to number two on the North American chart, adding an extra $41.3 million to its haul – that means Warner Bros grossed more than $40m on two films in one weekend, an exceedingly rare feat.

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Below Minecraft, The King of Kings made $17.2m, The Amateur raked in $7.2m, and Warfare made $4.85m.

How much does Sinners need to make?

Sinners needs to make around $225 million at the box office to break even.

This may seem a bit confusing, since Sinners is reported to have cost Warner Bros $90 million to produce. However, that doesn’t include advertising costs, and it’s generally believed that a movie needs to make 2.5x its budget to break even (consider all of the costs; fees to exhibitors, merchandising, taxes, and much more).

Why is the Sinners box office causing controversy?

Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld in Sinners

The way some outlets – namely, Variety and The New York Times – are reporting Sinners’ box office performance has been criticized on social media.

In short, Sinners’ opening weekend should be celebrated for all of the reasons above: it is a record-breaking debut for a 2020s original film, it’s in the top 10 Easter weekend launches of all time, and the larger consensus is that its haul will build as word-of-mouth spreads.

Alas, Variety has highlighted its “eye-popping” budget and warned that “profitability remains a ways away.” Similarly, The New York Times reported that its success has a “big asterisk… its profitability remains a long way off.”

As many have pointed out, other films haven’t received this sort of scrutiny. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood had a similarly successful opening weekend with around the same budget, and publications weren’t caveating its launch with the possibility of it still under-performing.

Ben Stiller specifically hit out at Variety, tweeting: “In what universe does a $60 million opening for an original studio movie warrant this headline?”

Where Sinners ranks on the 2025 box office

Jack O'Connell as a vampire in Sinners

Sinners is currently 11th on the 2025 box office rankings, which is pretty impressive given it’s only been out for one week. Check out what else is on the list below:

  1. Ne Zha 2 – $1.89 billion
  2. A Minecraft Movie – $720 million
  3. Captain America: Brave New World – $414 million
  4. Snow White – $184 million
  5. Dog Man – $140 million
  6. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – $132 million
  7. Mickey 17 – $130 million
  8. A Working Man – $81 million
  9. The Monkey – $68 million
  10. The Amateur – $64 million

If you’ve seen it, check out our breakdown of Sinners’ ending and post-credits scenes and where Sinners will be available to stream. You can also keep tabs on the year’s releases with our 2025 movie calendar.