Warner Bros.Sinners is currently setting box office records for an R-rated movie, but the western-horror hybrid is about to be turfed out of IMAX screens, for a frustrating reason.
Sinners has been a winner on all fronts. The Ryan Coogler-Michael B. Jordan collaboration received critical acclaim pretty much across the board, earning the genre-bender a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film also scored a solid opening weekend haul of $48 million, followed by a remarkable second weekend of $45.7 million.
That’s the lowest second-week decline for any film opening above $40 million since Avatar, and the smallest ever for an R-rated or horror title boasting those numbers. But thanks to another blockbuster, the film’s run in IMAX theaters is about to end.
Why is Sinners leaving IMAX?
Sinners is being kicked out of IMAX screens to make room for new Marvel movie Thunderbolts*.
Warner Bros.That’s pretty normal Hollywood practice, with big movies granted a specific window in IMAX theaters before being replaced by a different blockbuster.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 was affected by the surprise success of Oppenheimer in the summer of 2023, with the Tom Cruise movie ceding IMAX screens to Christopher Nolan’s biopic, which was also buoyed by the Barbenheimer phenomenon.
But interest is usually dissipating a week or two later, as audiences focus on the next blockbuster release. But it’s different for Sinners, as thanks to those good reviews and great word-of-mouth, the movie is holding strong.
Related
Meaning the movie is enjoying both repeat views, and fresh business from those newly discovering Sinners. Especially women, as according to The Hollywood Reporter, 46% of the opening weekend audience was women, but in week two, that number rose to 50%.
But Sinners will still be playing in non-IMAX screens for a while yet, so expect the movie’s global haul of $163.2 to keep rising.
You can check out our Sinners ending explainer, or head here to find out where it will be streaming first. Alternatively read our list of the best horror movies of all time, the greatest westerns, as well as out pick of new movies out this month.