This weekend’s box office was strange. Sinners, a high-budget live-action original horror movie, did something that has become pretty rare these days—maintained its success. Meanwhile, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, a 20-year-old sci-fi flick, returned to dominate in a way re-rereleases never do. In a weird way, the weekend box office shows that original movies can still succeed, while also showing just how powerful nostalgic comfort food can be in 2025.
Last weekend, on April 18, director Ryan Coogler’s vampire film Sinners hit theaters to rave reviews and a huge box office return. In its first weekend in theaters, the R-rated original horror film brought in more than $55 million over Easter weekend. And that’s just in the United States. It was an impressive haul, even if some tried to downplay it. Sinners cost around $90 million to make, not counting marketing, so some worried that the pricey horror film wouldn’t be able to break even or make a profit. But given its continued success, I think those concerns are gone now.
On April 28, Box Office Mojo reported that during its second weekend in theaters, Sinners earned $45 million. That’s just a six percent drop from its opening weekend returns. That kind of small drop is really rare these days, especially for a live-action original film. And it’s nearly unheard for horror movies, which tend to lose momentum after the first weekend.
In comparison, Megan in 2023—which was a very popular horror movie—dropped nearly 40 percent in its second weekend. 2018's massively popular Halloween reboot/sequel dropped 58 percent in its second weekend. So yeah, live-action horror hits rarely drop so little. It’s a good sign for WB and Coogler that Sinners will likely have some long legs going into May. Currently, the movie’s total worldwide box office score is $161 million.
Meanwhile, Revenge of the Sith was re-released in theaters over the weekend and shocked everyone, earning an astounding $42 million globally, with more than half that coming from the US alone. That’s wild for a movie that has been easily accessible via streaming for over a decade now. The 20-year-old Star Wars sequel was the second-biggest movie in the United States, behind Sinners, and just in front of Ben Affleck’s newly released The Accountant 2.
Do people want new ideas or nostalgic rereleases? Yes
Why I find this weekend’s box office results so weird is that you can easily use the same numbers to argue to very different ideas.
You can point to Revenge of the Sith’s big haul and suggest that audiences are less hungry for new movies than ever before, and are willing to pay theater ticket prices to watch something from 20 years ago. However, you could also point to Sinners having a record-breaking second weekend and suggest that audiences demand new ideas and movies. Honestly, I’d say that both takes are correct. I think people are more likely to watch comfort food over something new, but there is a demand for fresh movies from famous directors with proven track records.
I think people—as always—want good movies, or to have fun at the theater, or both. And it doesn’t matter if the film is old, new, unique, or a sequel. The secret really is: Make good movies people like. But then again, Minecraft crossed $800 million at the box office this weekend and that movie sucks.
So actually, I have no idea what people want. Never mind.
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