Sinners Is On Track For A Phenomenal Hold At The Box Office In Second Weekend

"Sinners" isn't slowing down. After surpassing expectations at the box office in its debut last week, Ryan Coogler's Jim Crow-era vampire horror is on track to drop just 8% in its second weekend. Variety reports that "Sinners" grossed $13 million on Friday and is looking at an estimated $42 million+ total for the weekend, compared to its $48 million domestic opening last week. That's a phenomenal hold, considering it's typical for movies to drop 40-60% in their second weekend.

It's even more impressive when you take into account the fact that the opening weekend total included $4.7 million in Thursday previews. The Friday-to-Sunday total was $43.3 million, meaning that "Sinners" is not only holding steady but could actually go even bigger this weekend than it did in its first. Exhibitors have responded to the demand, with the movie expanding from 3,308 venues to 3,347. 

Anecdotally, here in the UK, my local multiplex started "Sinners" in an 89-seater screen for its Friday night show last week, but moved it up to a 134-seater for the same time slot this week. I was in attendance both times, and both times it was close to a full house with a totally enraptured audience.

The positive word of mouth surrounding "Sinners" is so strong that it's difficult to predict just how far it could go in the coming weeks, but it's off to an incredible start.

Sometimes a small second weekend drop can be credited to a lack of competition. That's not the case with "Sinners." Coogler's movie had to hold its own against a new horror genre release (video game adaptation "Until Dawn"), Ben Affleck-led action sequel "The Accountant 2," and the re-release of "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith."

Per Variety, "The Accountant 2" scored a $9.4 million opening day (including Thursday previews), putting it on track for a $25 million debut. That's almost exactly on par with the original 2016 movie, though it's a smaller start when factoring in inflation. 2016's "The Accountant" had a modest box office run, but went on to become a huge success on streaming platforms, so "The Accountant 2" could have a similar story. It might be worth catching this one on the big screen, though; /Film's Ryan Scott described it in his review as "pure popcorn entertainment, executed effectively" and "better in every way" than the first movie.

Critics are considerably less enthused about "Until Dawn," which is set to open in fifth place at the box office with a $3.2 million opening day. It's possible that it made a small dent in the second weekend total for "Sinners," but mostly it looks like "Until Dawn" got steamrolled by the bigger horror movie.