Box Office: ‘Sinners’ Stays Strong With $13 Million Second Friday, ‘The Accountant 2’ Appraises $9.4 Million Opening Day

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Once more, “Sinners” emerges victorious, poised to claim the number one spot at the box office for a second consecutive weekend. The vampire thriller by Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan has outperformed new releases such as Ben Affleck’s action sequel “The Accountant 2“, Sony’s video game adaptation “Until Dawn”, and Disney’s re-release of “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” on its opening day.

The second week of the movie “Sinners” is proving to be highly successful for Warner Bros., with a Friday earnings of $13 million, only an 8% decrease from its previous weekly total. Additionally, the film expanded to play in more theaters, going from 3,308 venues to 3,347. The film’s sustained popularity is largely due to strong demand for Imax and other premium-large format viewings. In fact, Imax accounted for 20% of the total revenue during its opening weekend.

Despite a production cost of $90 million, the movie “Sinners” has surpassed expectations, demonstrating strong box office performance in North America. Last week, it even managed to outperform predictions by claiming the No. 1 opening spot over “A Minecraft Movie” and setting a new record for the biggest debut of an original film since 2019. The film’s daily earnings have been impressive over the past week, and it is projected to surpass $100 million in domestic box office sales by Saturday, just nine days into its release.

Competing films are predicting a decrease of more than 10% over three days for “Sinners.” This would be the smallest second-weekend drop for a film opening with over $45 million since “Avatar” fell by just 1.8% in December 2009, which was during the Christmas season. Notably, “Sinners” is achieving this without the support of any holidays. In simpler terms, such sustained holdings are extremely rare. The last original film to surpass $200 million in North America was Pixar’s “Coco” ($210 million); it’s now possible that “Sinners” could reach or even surpass this benchmark.

The enduring popularity of “Sinners” highlights a significant, yet largely unexplored demand for innovative blockbuster productions. In its second week, it’s outperforming competitors such as “The Accountant 2” and “Until Dawn”, both newer releases that were given the green light based on established intellectual properties (IP). This suggests that when talent is involved, original content can hold its own against more familiar franchises.

Simultaneously, “The Accountant 2” has been audited for ticket sales totaling $9.4 million during its opening on Friday and previews, showing in a grand total of 3,610 theaters. The upcoming action installment, featuring Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal reprising their roles as fraternal assassins, is projected to earn approximately $25 million over its first weekend. This figure places it slightly ahead of the initial “Accountant,” which was distributed by Warner Bros. in 2016 and debuted with $24 million. The original film, helmed by Gavin O’Connor, enjoyed a successful theatrical run, ultimately grossing $155 million worldwide, but it went on to become one of the most-rented digital films in 2017.

The significant success of “Accountant 2” in the marketplace played a crucial role in its production. In contrast to its predecessor’s $45 million budget, the sequel was made for approximately $80 million before marketing expenses, nearly doubling the original’s cost. The movie had its premiere at the SXSW Festival in March and received favorable reviews. Moreover, it is also resonating with audiences, as indicated by Cinema Score’s polling of a solid “A-” grade from ticket buyers.

Despite high expectations for the premiere of “The Accountant 2,” Amazon MGM might have faced a significant increase in production costs. This brings to mind “Red One,” an action movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, which was Christmas-themed and had a $32 million opening in November, despite a massive $250 million production budget. However, Amazon later claimed that this film was successful on their streaming platform, Prime Video. The company’s head of theatrical distribution, Kevin Wilson, stated that a theatrical release is considered a success if it only covers marketing and distribution costs before being moved to Prime Video. As a streaming company first and foremost, Amazon might view the true worth of “The Accountant 2” as lying beyond the box office figures reported publicly.

In third place, we find the re-release of Disney’s “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” often considered one of George Lucas’ most esteemed works from his later prequel trilogy. This space opera has seen its reputation blossom since its 2005 premiere and is currently being screened in 2,775 cinemas. On its opening day and preview screenings, it garnered $11.3 million, with expectations of a three-day gross surpassing $20 million. Despite predictions of a weekend decline, it may challenge “The Accountant 2” for the second spot.

Star Wars: Sith” currently enjoys widespread popularity, outperforming its competition significantly. For instance, it surpassed last year’s re-release of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” during its opening weekend by more than doubling the latter’s $8 million earnings. Similarly, the 40th anniversary showing of “Return of the Jedi” in 2023 only managed to gross $5.1 million. Keep an eye out for “Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” which will celebrate its silver anniversary in two years.

On its opening day, “Until Dawn,” produced by Sony and Screen Gems, raked in $3.2 million at 3,055 cinemas. The movie is based on the highly successful video game of the same name from the PlayStation banner by Sony. This film also serves as director David F. Sandberg’s return to the horror genre following his work on the “Shazam!” superhero movies.

The projected earnings for “Until Dawn” over the next three days are approximately $7 million, but reviews have been average and it received a C+ grade from Cinema Score. This suggests that the movie may not have strong staying power. However, it’s important to note that the R-rated film didn’t cost a great deal to produce, with a budget of around $15 million.

Over the weekend, I found myself marveling at the box office performance of “A Minecraft Movie,” produced by Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. On Friday alone, it managed to rake in an additional $5.1 million, bringing its total domestic earnings close to the $377 million mark.

As we approach its fourth weekend, it’s expected to experience a drop of about 50%. If this projection holds true, by Sunday, it will surpass “Jurassic World Dominion” and claim the 58th spot on the list of highest-grossing North American releases of all time. With more milestones to reach, this adaptation of Mojang’s iconic video game is truly a testament to its enduring appeal. This week, it also crossed the $700 million mark globally. As a film enthusiast, I can’t wait to see where it goes from here!

This weekend, the movie “The Legend of Ochi” by A24 will be showing in approximately 1,150 theaters across the country. Directed by Isaiah Saxon, this fantasy adventure brought in around $610,000 on Friday and is projected to earn a total of several million dollars over the next three days.

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2025-04-26 19:17