‘Sinners’ is Leading the Movies out of the Streaming Desert

“Sinners” is a movie that, when it was over, had me wanting to run out of the theater so I could sprint through a wall. It’s that exhilarating. It hits you in the gut in the way that only the best movies can — not just emotionally, but physically, too.

“I want people walking out of the theater and thinking, ‘Man, I had a full meal,’” Ryan Coogler said in an interview with LeBron James for Interview magazine. It’s a perfect description of what “Sinners” feels like: a cinematic feast that leaves you dazed and full.

It’s also telling that the person Coogler was speaking to was LeBron James. That’s the level of clout Coogler has now. He’s not just a respected filmmaker — he’s a cultural force, someone whose new movie is an event.

“Sinners” led the box office during its opening weekend, despite being one of the strangest, most ambitious studio films in years. It’s part stomping musical, part period piece, part searing social commentary, and part — somehow — vampire flick.

The fact that “Sinners” can be all of those things at once, and also a massive commercial hit, feels almost miraculous. It’s proof that audiences are still willing to show up for something bold and original if it’s done right.

The film feels like Coogler cashing in every bit of goodwill he earned from the success of “Black Panther” and “Creed.” Instead of playing it safe, he bet everything on a deeply personal, challenging story.

“Sinners” isn’t designed to shamelessly chase awards — though it’s basically a lock for a Best Picture nomination. Instead, it’s the work of an artist laying it all on the line to tell a story he clearly couldn’t keep inside.

That willingness to take risks extended to the studios as well. After a heated bidding war, “Sinners” landed at Warner Bros., a studio with a rich legacy but a recent string of embarrassments under CEO David Zaslav.

Zaslav, who had infamously shelved completed films for tax write-offs, earned a reputation for being hostile to artists — and even to the very idea of movie theaters themselves. It was a rough period for Warner Bros.

Recognizing the need to change course, Warner Bros. installed new leadership in the form of co-chairs Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca. Their mission: to rebuild the studio’s battered image by taking big, creative swings.

They started greenlighting ambitious projects from respected auteurs, including Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi adventure “Mickey 17,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s punk rock reimagining of “The Bride of Frankenstein,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic “One Battle After Another,” inspired by Thomas Pynchon.

Part of the shift was about repairing Warner Bros.’ brand, but it was also a bold industry strategy — betting that original stories by visionary directors could bring audiences back to theaters.

Of course, not every risk pays off. “Mickey 17” is fun but flawed, and it’s projected to lose millions. But sometimes the gamble works spectacularly, as it did with “Sinners.”

The film earned an extremely rare “A” CinemaScore from audiences — the first time a horror movie has ever done so — and it became an unexpected smash hit at the box office.

Coogler, already the highest-grossing Black director of all time, achieved something extraordinary: he made a film that demanded to be seen in theaters, just as streaming and shrinking theatrical windows threatened to kill that experience.

In doing so, he joined an elite group of modern directors like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino, who have successfully fought to keep the theatrical experience sacred.

Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” were similarly risky, ambitious studio projects that thrived both critically and commercially by insisting audiences see them on the big screen.

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” though based on a well-known brand, also demonstrated that audiences would reward smart, inventive filmmaking — a sharp contrast to the cookie-cutter streaming content pumped out by filmmakers like the Russo brothers post-Marvel.

“Sinners” competed for box office dominance with “A Minecraft Movie,” which might sound like soulless IP until you actually see it and realize it’s surprisingly lively and good-hearted, especially when experienced with its target audience: kids.

In moments like this, you realize that the magic of going to the movies is still alive. Kids yelling “chicken jockey!” at the screen have turned scenes from “Minecraft” into a TikTok phenomenon — proof that moviegoing can still be a communal, joyful event.

You can’t help but wonder if we’re on the brink of a new cinematic renaissance, much like the New Hollywood era of the late ’60s and early ’70s, when studios handed the keys to auteurs like Coppola, Altman, and Scorsese.

Back then, desperate studios took wild chances — and in doing so, created many of the greatest films in American history, while turning moviegoing into a central part of cultural life for a generation.

“Sinners” stands proudly in that tradition, a reminder of what movies can still be when studios believe in artists, and when audiences are willing to embrace the wild ride.

It’s the kind of movie that makes you want to sprint through a wall — and then turn around and sprint right back into the theater for another round.