Ryan Coogler expresses his gratitude for the overwhelming audience response to Sinners (2025)

Sinners has been building hype ever since Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan had studios discreetly read their script in a supervised session. Then, studios began a bidding war for a film that no one knew details about, except that it was a “genre movie.” That genre turned out to be a period vampire film and audiences turned out for Sinners this past week with a huge positive response and rave reviews. In his review, our own Chris Bumbray says, “It’s good enough that I can’t help but hope Coogler eventually parts ways with the MCU (after his nextBlack Pantherflick), as he seems better off playing in his own sandbox. Given the right resources and support,Sinnersmight be the beginning of a whole new chapter for one of our most exciting, emerging filmmakers.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, writer and director Ryan Coogler wrote a letter of gratitude for the overwhelming response from audiences this week. He writes,

Eternal gratitude. My heart is bursting with it. I want to thank each and every one of you who bought a ticket to seeSinners. Who decided to drive to see the film in different formats. Who bought popcorn and a drink, booked a sitter and carpooled, and stood in the lobby afterward and talked and made a friend. Who changed their work schedules. Who saw the film in groups.”

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Coogler continues to write, “I want to thank you all who watching more than once, who recommended the film to others, both in person and on social media or on your text message chains. I had the gift of the opportunity of making a film inspired by my family and my ancestry but it was always a film that we wanted to make for audiences, in theaters. We always had our minds on you, the audience, and felt a deep responsibility to entertain you, and move you in the way only cinema can.”

The Black Panther director stated that Sinners was his love letter to cinema and shot the film with IMAX cameras. He even gave a shout-out to Christopher Nolan in the credits of the film for being an inspiration and paving the way by bringing the IMAX medium to non-documentary films, starting with The Dark Knight. Coogler also wrote that he “unabashedly reached towards my cinematic influences” and named-dropped Spike Lee, John Singleton, Ernie Barnes, Steve McQueen, Ava DuVernay, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jordan Peele, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and Stephen King, among several others.

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