Sinners has become the surprise smash hit of the year, breaking records and raking in over $300 million dollars so far at the box office. Starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld,...
00:00Sinners has become the surprise smash hit of the year, breaking records and raking in over $300 million so far at the box office.
00:08Starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Haley Steinfeld, Jack O'Connell, and more, and directed by Ryan Coogler,
00:14the film has managed to take things that are usually seen as harbingers of low audience turnout,
00:19like an R rating and the horror genre, and mold them into a film that's wildly successful.
00:24And it could possibly even save Hollywood, if the studios are willing to take the right lessons from this triumph.
00:30So what does Sinners tell us about how to make a winning film in our modern era?
00:34Let's take a closer look.
00:35While Sinners is certainly a technical achievement, its most compelling aspect is, of course, its original, well-drawn story.
00:41This man wrote like you could not believe.
00:44That first draft was phenomenal, and I think it's really because the story was inside of him his whole life.
00:50Reboots and adaptations have been a staple of film since its beginnings and aren't a problem on their own.
00:55But as we and everyone else has talked about, in recent years it has felt like Hollywood has been leaning on already known and loved names and properties,
01:04hoping for safe bets instead of ever being willing to take bets on new things.
01:08So it's been great to see this big swing with an original property aimed at adults really pay off in a major way.
01:15We unpacked the story and its symbolism at length in our first video on Sinners, which we'll link below if you haven't already watched it.
01:21The story succeeds because it isn't afraid of specificity.
01:25It is very of the time, place, and culture within which it's set.
01:28This allows the film to hone in on the details of the aspects, adding depth and making the entire world feel both more lived in and relatable.
01:37It's combining a lot of different elements into one uniform dish that's beloved.
01:42My family is known for making some of the best gumbo, and this was my opportunity to make some cinematic gumbo.
01:49Each character feels like a full person.
01:51They have universally relatable traits for us to connect to.
01:54Sammy's desire to follow his true passion, Annie's conviction, Stack's fiery personality, etc.
01:59But they aren't made to feel like paint-by-numbers cutouts meant to just slot into well-worn tropes.
02:04Everyone has a deep interiority that's always bubbling under the surface and guiding their choices.
02:09The music becomes its own character in the film, weaving through time and space to connect souls across the realms of past, present, and future.
02:16Hollywood, in its larger budget films at least, has long seemed more interested in aiming for the middle,
02:22trying to sand down any specificity or uniqueness within stories in the hopes of making them as palatable to as wide an audience as possible.
02:30There's certainly something to be said for the comfort that can come from films that follow paths we've walked a million times before,
02:36but that shouldn't be every film.
02:38But with Sinners, we can see how much audiences have been yearning for just the opposite.
02:42People enjoy getting to know these specific characters, not knowing exactly what's going to happen next, or where things are going to end up.
02:49Ryan Coogler has one of the best track records in the game.
02:51His first feature film, Fruitvale Station, had the third highest limited release opening weekend of 2013,
02:57and was also a huge critical success.
02:59And he's also helmed big-budget blockbuster Black Panther, and its sequel as well as Creed, a spin-off of the beloved Rocky series.
03:06But even with all of the success under his belt, there was a feeling that this film was a big gamble.
03:12Not only is it a period piece, it's also rated R, and a horror movie, and isn't afraid to get a little fantastical.
03:19Hollywood execs often like to try to shroud their own prejudices behind a feigned concern over,
03:24oh, well, the audiences just won't want to pay to see that sort of thing.
03:28But that just isn't true.
03:29It has been disproven time and time again, and Sinners is yet another shining example.
03:34Now, of course, we know that taking the chance more than paid off.
03:38But Sinners didn't only take a risk with its choice of thematic and visual elements.
03:42It even took a chance on trusting the audience, something else that has been lost in recent years.
03:46There's been a growing idea that films and television shows shouldn't see themselves as the main focus of their audience's attention,
03:53but instead just auxiliary entertainment to make noise in the background while people scroll on their phones.
03:59This has led to a huge swath of made-for-streaming content being forced to essentially note aloud everything that is going on,
04:07or that might be important so that people not paying attention can still keep up.
04:11But this has even bled into films that do get a theatrical release amid concerns that no one will have any idea what's going on if you aren't constantly explicitly telling them.
04:20Sinners, thankfully, chose not to take this route.
04:23Instead, the film focuses on the storytelling, knowing that the people who connect with it will get it,
04:28and those who don't or miss something will have plenty of explainers to read and watch once they leave the theater.
04:33This allows the film to feel like an actual film, a cinematic experience, and not just content.
04:38All of this chance-taking and storytelling was made possible because Warner Bros. was willing to believe in Coogler's talent and let him create what he wanted to create.
04:47Studio meddling has been the ruin of many a film and TV show, and when things seem risky, producers can sometimes get cold feet and start trying to turn things back in a more milquetoast, safe-feeling direction.
04:59Warner Bros. was willing to take a chance on letting Coogler's creativity run free, and why shouldn't they?
05:04He's more than proven himself to be a capable, adept director who can turn out hits, and in the end, were also themselves able to reap the rewards of the resulting success.
05:13There was a lot of hubbub about Coogler's deal with Warner Bros. for the movie, which was a bit out of the norm, but certainly didn't come out of nowhere.
05:20I'm not the first filmmaker to get any of these deals.
05:23I've been in the industry long enough to know what kind of deals are possible, and nothing about this deal is a new thing.
05:30As Holly Van Leeuwen explained for Morning Brew, Coogler reportedly sought $90 million for Sinners, with a few strings attached.
05:37He needed to retain control of the film's final cut and receive a percentage of the box office gross from the beginning of the film's theatrical run,
05:45rather than waiting for a cut after it became profitable, which is more common.
05:49But he also insisted that ownership of the film would revert to him after 25 years.
05:53Warner Bros. agreed.
05:54He owns this film.
05:55This is a riddled screenplay.
05:58All this is his.
05:59So that was a power move, too.
06:01Once news of this deal leaked after the release of the film, there were clearly some ruffled feathers amongst the Hollywood elite,
06:07with some claiming that this very successful film, doing very well, could actually be bad news for Hollywood,
06:13because it might mean that the studios would have to pay the people actually doing the work fairly instead of keeping it all for themselves.
06:19The horror!
06:20This battle, of course, ties into one of the biggest battles within the film itself,
06:25not against the vampires, but against a world trying to stop disenfranchised people in general,
06:30and black people in specific, from having any success or making anything for themselves.
06:35It's taken a lot of time, commitment, energy, and I've missed out on a lot of things in my life,
06:40making films that will always be owned by other people.
06:44As Tiana Clark wrote in her piece for The New York Times,
06:47why is it somehow out of line for a bankable auteur like Mr. Coogler,
06:50who has a $2.5 billion track record with box office juggernauts like Black Panther and Creed franchises?
06:57Instead of viewing Mr. Coogler's contract as a threat,
06:59why not criticize a movie industry that has exploited black talent since it began?
07:04Again, I know the answer,
07:05which is why I do not see Mr. Coogler's deal as a threat to what the Vulture article termed
07:10the time-honored industry power balance.
07:13The power was never in balance for black people to begin with.
07:16While this kind of deal might freak out the studio heads,
07:18who see their jobs as just raking in hundreds of millions of dollars
07:21to delete completed films and drive IP into the ground,
07:25for the ones who actually want their companies to function,
07:28and to continue to exist,
07:29it provides a great roadmap towards success.
07:32Actually allowing the creatives to have creative control over projects
07:36is obviously a good thing,
07:38but giving them the opportunity to have a genuine financial stake
07:41in the film's success and future
07:43helps them feel like they're truly getting to have their work
07:46as a part of their future and legacy,
07:48instead of just being forced to throw it into the Hollywood grinder
07:50and hope for the best.
07:52It also will allow those creatives to feel secure
07:54in their ability to continue to create and make projects
07:58while also being able to buy groceries and pay rent.
08:00While the starving artist trope might be glamorous on screen,
08:03in real life, financial insecurity just leads to pain,
08:06hardship, and people having to leave creative industries.
08:09So setting a path that sees creatives being paid fairly for their work
08:13is an important step towards salvaging Hollywood.
08:16As much as Hollywood bigwigs hem and haw
08:18about how people don't want to go to the theater anymore,
08:20clearly we are willing to go out and pay
08:23when a movie actually feels like it's worth it.
08:25Theaters have been in a slump post-COVID shutdowns,
08:28as Paul Blow wrote for Variety back in March
08:30before Sinners had released.
08:31Box office grosses haven't rebounded either.
08:34Ticket sales in 2024 fell to $8.7 billion,
08:37a 23.5 drop from pre-pandemic levels.
08:40It's a far cry from the nearly $11 billion industry
08:44was generating before the global health crisis.
08:46But Sinners' mega success makes it clear yet again
08:49that people are willing to go out to the theater
08:51to see something worthwhile.
08:52And it's also key that a huge part of Sinners' success
08:55came from word of mouth,
08:56not spending $11 billion on advertising.
08:59People went to see it not because they were told by 400 ads a day
09:02that it was the event of the summer,
09:04but because people they actually know told them it was good.
09:07People also want to have access to the media they love at home.
09:10In the same way people were hyped for IMAX,
09:12they'll also be willing to pay to have a physical copy of the film
09:15that they can watch at home whenever they want.
09:17So instead of framing it as an either-or,
09:20either a film must immediately do huge numbers opening weekend
09:23or be thrown onto the streaming pile to be forgotten immediately.
09:27Studios should see how Sinners' opening success
09:29grew even more through word of mouth
09:31as it was allowed to live in theaters over the weeks
09:34and return to the older model of allowing movies
09:37to find their footing in theaters
09:39and then, after a breather,
09:40releasing them on formats people can watch in their homes too.
09:43Like Psycho, Bonnie and Clyde, and Breathless,
09:47and other surprise hits that changed cinema forever,
09:50Sinners has the opportunity to turn things around for Hollywood
09:53at a time when it really needs a new direction.
09:56So now, only time will tell
09:57if the studios are willing to embrace
09:59the lessons of Sinners' success,
10:01or if they'll instead succumb to the darkness.
10:04That's the take.
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