It’s a win for original movies as Warner Bros‘ Sinners has taken the lead at the Easter weekend box office with $45.6M per Warners over the studio’s A Minecraft Movie which is landing in second with $41.3M. Since 2000, this weekend reps the eighth time that Warner Bros has led the Easter weekend box office with an event title after 2010’s Clash of the Titans, 2016’s Batman v. Superman, 2018’s Ready Player One, 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona, 2021’s Godzilla v. Kong, 2022’s Fantastic Beasts 3, last year’s Godzilla x Kong and now Sinners. Let the record show that Warner Bros with both titles contributed 64% of the entire weekend’s box office. Among all Easter weekend openings, Sinners ranks 9th.
This comes after a better-than-expected Saturday of $16.5M for the Ryan Coogler directed, Michael B. Jordan starring vampire pic, down only -14% from Friday’s $19.2M. Rivals were forecasting more of a horror drop on Saturday between -24% to -34%. A Minecraft Movie‘s Saturday was $15.8M, -1%.
“As we continue to strive to bring an array of films to moviegoers, we are thrilled to see how Ryan Coogler’s original movie Sinners, and a movie based on the fan favorite Minecraft game, have resonated with audiences in such a stellar way. Movies have the power to transport us to worlds only seen on the big screen, and Warner Bros. Pictures remains committed to bringing singular in-theater experiences to audiences looking for bold movies, both original and those based on beloved existing properties,” exclaimed Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group’s Mike De Luca & Pam Abdy this Easter morning.
While Sinners‘ Friday was just under Nope‘s $19.5M, its Saturday is ahead of the Jordan Peele title’s which did $13.9M for a 3-day of $44.3M. The 7:45PM Imax 70MM show at the AMC Universal Citywalk was sold out tonight, and it’s nearly sold out tomorrow night.
We also forgot to mention that Sinners‘ is the only horror movie in over 35 years to get an A CinemaScore besting that of Get Out (A-) and A Quiet Place Part II (A-).
Updated under the hood on Sinners:
PLFs and Imax delivered 45% of the weekend; Imax alone being 20%. It’s the highest grossing and best-indexing ever horror film in Imax, and in the top 10 of all time for the large format exhibitor behind movies like Interstellar (26%), Oppenheimer (26%), Tron (24%), Dunkirk (23%), Dune 2 (22%), and Gravity (21%).
The top 10 locations overall are: 1. AMC Lincoln Square New York, 2. Regal Atlantic Station Atlanta, 3. AMC Southlake Pavilion Atlanta, 4. AMC Universal Citywalk Los Angeles, 5. Regal Edwards Marq’E Houston, 6. AMC Metreon San Francisco, 7. AMC Burbank, 8. AMC Empire New York, 9. Regal Irvine Spectrum Los Angeles, and 10. AMC Grove Los Angeles.
The top cities are: 1. Los Angeles, 2. New York, 3. Atlanta, 4. Dallas, 5. Chicago, 6. Washington DC, 7. Houston, 8. San Francisco, 9. Philadelphia, and 10. Toronto.
Nine of the top ten cities are over indexing their typical market share levels including Los Angeles
(+3%), New York (+18%), Atlanta (+96%), Dallas (+27%), Chicago (+32%), Washington DC (+59%), Houston (+31%), San Francisco (+19%), and Philadelphia (+23%).
Angel Studios’ King of Kings did around $6.35M on Saturday landing it at $17.2M in its second weekend, -11%.
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Sunday AM updates in bold:
1.) Sinners (WB) 3308 theaters, Fri $19.2M, Sat $16.5M Sun $9.9M 3-day $45.6M/Wk 1
2.) A Minecraft Movie (WB) 4032 theaters Fri $16M, Sat $15.8M Sun $9.5M 3-day $41.3M (-47%), Total $344.6M/Wk 3
3.) King of Kings (Angel) 3535 theaters, Fri $6.6M (-6%) Sat $6.6M Sun $4M 3-day $17.2M (-11%), Total $45.3M/Wk 2
4.) The Amateur (20th) 3400 theaters, Fri $2.3M (-62%) Sat $2.8M Sun $2.1M 3-day $7.2M (-51%), Total $27.3M/Wk 2
5.) Warfare (A24) 2,670 theaters, Fri $1.6M (-55%) Sat $1.86M Sun $1.36M 3-day $4.855M (-42%), Total $17.1M/Wk 2
6.) Drop (Uni) 3,089 (+4) theaters, Fri $1.19M (-64%) Sat $1.3M Sun $850K 3-day $3.35M (-55%), Total $13.4M/Wk 2
7.) Colorful Stage: The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing (GKIDS) 800 theaters, Fri/previews $1.42M, Sat $793K, Sun $550K 3-day $2.76M/Wk 1
Solid ticket sales in Orlando, LA, Seattle, NYC, Dallas, Boston, DC and San Francisco to name a few markets. The Hiroyuki Hata directed anime follows Shibuya teen musician Ichika who meets Hatsune Miku after hearing her song in a store. The pair work together to help Miku forge emotional connections through music.
8.) Pride & Prejudice (re) (Foc) 1,393 theaters, Fri $880K, Sat $1.07M, Sun $750K, 3-day $2.7M/Lifetime cume $41.2M/Wk 1 (re)
Excellent numbers for an arthouse re-release by today’s standards, however, interesting to point out that the original movie made close to what we’re seeing here back in Nov 11-13, 2005 with $2.8M but at 215 theaters. On Friday, Union Square delivered the highest gross in North America for the Joe Wright movie, with Irvine Spectrum close behind as the second highest-grossing theatre.
9.) Chosen: Last Supper – Part 3 (Fath) 653 theaters, Fri $525K (-74%) Sat $628K Sun $534K, 3-day $1.68M (-72%) Total $11.9M/Wk 2
10.) Snow White (Dis) 1650 (-890 theaters, Fri $451K (-39%) Sat $434K Sun $287K 3-day $1.17M (-60%), Total $84.5M/Wk 5
Notables:
The Wedding Banquet (BST) 1142 theaters Fri $359K, Sat $322K, Sun $241K, 3-day $922,9K/Wk 1
With a per screen of $808, this isn’t so hot. For the record, the original Ang Lee movie grossed $6.9M lifetime back in 1993, unadjusted for inflation.
Sneaks (Briarcliff) 1,500 theaters, Fri $240K, 3-day $675K/Wk 1