It’s unquestionable. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is a verified box office smash.
The record-breaking film recently achieved another massive feat, taking $33.1 million on its third weekend of domestic release with another impressively small drop of just 27 percent week-on-week despite losing all Premium, Large Format, and IMAX screens to Marvel‘s latest would-be blockbuster, Thunderbolts* (Nee *New Avengers). That’s notable for many reasons, but also makes sense as leading into the release of Thunderbolts* on May 3, many fans were still attempting to see Sinners in IMAX with pretty much all available IMAX screenings sold out—or close to it—on Wednesday, May 1 (the last day it was playing on those screens before the two-week exclusivity of Thunderbolts* took hold).
This recent hunger for IMAX screenings of Sinners raises a question though: When so much of box office takings come from premium and large format venues, should we rethink the exclusivity deals that saw sold out screenings for Sinners translate into half-empty screenings for Thunderbolts*? Is there a way that studios can split IMAX and premium format to better serve audiences and theaters? And would Sinners have beaten Thunderbolts* at the box office if it hadn’t had to give up all of the screens that were accounting for so much of its take?
It’s hard not to imagine what Sinners’ box office could have looked like had Thunderbolts* not taken all of the 1000+ premium format and IMAX screens in the U.S., and if the U.S. theater market had more than seven theaters that were able to play Sinners in 70mm. Ryan Coogler’s epic vampire flick is about to cross $200 million at the time of writing, and Thunderbolts* should cross $100 million this weekend, making it one of the slowest in the MCU films to do so, second only to Eternals’ 10-day journey (or third overall since The Marvels never crossed that threshold).
For context, Captain America: Brave New World made it to that milestone in just five days and is considered a disappointment. This might sound like comparing apples to oranges, but in this case, the success of Sinners and its impressive $43 million take in the last week despite not having any premium/large format screens make it a conversation worth having, at least in the hypothetical.
One of the things that makes Sinners stand out from the crowd and the usual conversations around blockbuster films is that the movie was shot with IMAX cameras. Not shot “for IMAX” like Thunderbolts*. Coogler actually shot with those rare and coveted IMAX cameras that are most well-known because of the times Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve got their hands on them.
Sinners broke new ground in that case, too, with the film shooting simultaneously on Ultra Panavision 70 (2.76:1) and IMAX (1.43:1). All of this plays into the crossover appeal of Sinners as it is a film that was made to be experienced in premium formats and with the word of mouth train it was on, selling out screenings across the country up until the day it was taken out of those theaters. Still, as mentioned above, the reach of Sinners is so strong that it still made $43 million without those screens in the last week. And even this week, it’s estimated to have made an impressive $4.5 million on Tuesday, again without those screens. So it feels fair to say that there’s a good chance Sinners would have taken a big bite of Thunderbolts’ success if it had access to even some of the premium screens.
Luckily, Sinners is returning to IMAX on May 15 for one week, but only in the nine true IMAX theaters in the U.S. rather than reclaiming more of the screens that it gave over to Thunderbolts*. While the screenings almost instantly sold out and crashed the AMC websites when announced, we’ll still share below where the film is returning to large format theaters, in case you can still get tickets in one of the formats that Ryan Coogler intended:
- AMC Lincoln Square 13 & IMAX in New York, New York
- Universal Cinema AMC at Citywalk Hollywood & IMAX in Los Angeles, California
- Regal Irvine Spectrum & IMAX in Irvine, California
- AMC Metreon 16 & IMAX in San Francisco, California
- IMAX, Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Harkins Arizona Mills 18 & IMAX in Temple, Arizona
- Autonation IMAX, Museum of Discovery & Science in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Cinemark Dallas & IMAX in Dallas, Texas
- Cineplex Cinemas Vaughan in Woodbridge, Ontario
Before we get to Sinners‘ return to select IMAX screens though, we have one more weekend to go with no major releases and the *New Avengers title reveal that Marvel Studios is hoping will get more viewers into seats once again.
The newest MCU movie made $7.3 million on its first Tuesday—when tickets are cheaper at theaters across the nation—compared to Sinners‘ $8.7 million on its first Tuesday, once again showcasing just how much of a hold the Coogler’s vampire flick held on audiences*. Seeing as Sinners is only returning to the select IMAX theaters above, it’s not fair to pit it against Thunderbolts* next weekend gross, as Disney will still have most of the premium screens. But even with that being said, it’s clear the people really want to watch Sinners in IMAX, so perhaps this could become an Avatar situation where certain theaters keep the film playing way after the usual 45-window—which has shrunk since the COVID-19 pandemic—which would also be good for the earned awards chatter around the film.
It’ll be interesting to see where it all lands, especially as Coogler’s movie cost $90 million and has already made that back, showing no signs of stopping, whereas Thunderbolts* has to make back $300 million plus marketing before becoming profitable. Considering how much more one of these cost to produce than the other, it’s worth wondering if studios continuing to bet so heavily on the same handful of IP franchises is the best path forward for “eventizing” movies, be it on IMAX screens or otherwise.
The post Sinners, Thunderbolts*, and the Need to Rethink IMAX Releases appeared first on Den of Geek.
From https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/sinners-thunderbolts-rethink-imax-releases/
