Sinners Movie Box Office Collection: Hit or Flop?
“Sinners (2025) struggles to impress at the box office—discover its weekend earnings, critical reception, and what went wrong.”
The widely anticipated psychological thriller, Sinners, hit theaters on May 2, 2025, riding on the strength of an eerie trailer and an intriguing plot line that promised to leave audiences awestruck and aghast. The movie was directed by the talented Jordan Michaels and featured rising stars in Eliza Carrington and Micah Vale. Sinners was sold as a boundary-pushing slice of cinema—one that would spur conversation, think pieces, and accolades from critics alike.
The Build-Up to Sinners: Expectations vs. Reality
Leading up to the film’s debut, Sinners had all the hallmarks of a successful cinematic release:
A viral teaser campaign, leaving TikTok and Instagram users speculating about deeper meanings.
A forcing A-List celebrities (who rarely endorse upcoming releases) to call it “this generation’s Se7en.”
Festival excitement, that felt wave-like, sweeping over the film after its premiere at Sundance, luring film critics to proclaim it contained a disturbing atmosphere and philosophical depth.
By the time Sinners released on May 2, 2025, projections suggested that it would end the opening weekend with $25-30 million thanks to curiosity around the pre-release campaign, the controversies surrounding the film’s content, and sensational fandom further dissecting all aspects.
But here’s what actually happened:
Sinners opened with a thud at estimated $12.7 million domestically, (almost) half what it was expected to (and you cannot even say that it was less than if given a small number for expected—you can conjure your own thoughts).
In Sinner’s second weekend, a 65% drop at a mere $4.4million to bring the film in at $18.5 million total for 2-weeks.
International markets were not any better, another $6 million total for the first 2 weeks.
Box Office Analysis: The Numbers Tell the Story
Domestic Box Office Report (as of June 25, 2025)
Opening weekend: $12.7 million
Total for Week 2: $4.4 million
Total for Week 3: $1.9 million
Total Cumulative Gross: $22.3 million
International Box Office Statement
Opening week: $3.8 million
Examining the Failure
A. Mixed to Negative Word of Mouth
While critics seemed to be intrigued by the premise, audiences proved less tolerant. Social media lit up with comments that ranged from “brilliant but boring” to “pretentious and incoherent.”
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 42%
CinemaScore: C-
Google Reviews: 2.9/5 average
The most disappointed fans (dedicated fans of the horror genre) likely felt like Sinners painted a plot twist or ending that wasn’t earned. Many viewers reported being confused by the ending and angry at what it did to the film.
B. Misleading Marketing
Promotional trailers could have given audiences the impression that Sinners was a horror-thriller. What audiences actually got was a philosophical contemplative drama with horror undertones. In hindsight, this bait and switch was ill-advised.
The buy-in of audiences looking for jump scares or shocking gory sequences was a fair expectation. The portrayal that audiences actually viewed was dialogue-heavy with imagery and symbolism, good for a film studies assignment but perhaps not as mainstream material for more pedantic horror fans.
C. Competing Releases
Another unfortunate factor in Sinners’ failure was the fact that it was positioned against audience-favored releases:
Marvel’s Iron Heart (week 2 of release and still showing on screens)
The Wedding Pact 2 – another surprise rom-com
The animated reboot of the Secret Garden – pulling families away
Sinners struggled finding its footing in competition with nearly every genre.
Was It Even A Good Film?
Ironically Sinners is struggling commercially, but it quickly becoming a cult classic with cinephiles.
Pros:
Beautiful Cinematography
Haunting sound design
Multilayered philosophy (good vs. evil, morality under surveillance)
Cons:
Pacing issues
Overly cryptic story
Ending twist making it approachable
Lessons Learned for Future Hideous Releases
Hollywood is keeping a close eye on Sinners—not just because it has ‘flopped’, but because it had the tools available to succeed.
Takeaways:
You can’t fake authentic engagement worth of the screen. Audiences are smarter than they’ve ever been.
A24 like films should have clear marketing if they were to receive box office receipts.
TikTok virality does not equal reach sustainability – especially for films that scrap the structural narratives.
The Fake Reviews
One of the biggest debacles around sins wasn’t so much the film as it was an online profile with an attempt to build a reputation.
Reddit and X (the former Twitter) users uncovered many sources of suspiciously positive 5-star reviews on Letterboxd, IMDb, and Google. A bunch were all posted within the same hour and often with similar phrasing.
Content creators began exposing the pattern and hinting that there was evidence the production company employed bots, or paid influencers to generate some positive reviews.
Final Verdict: Hit or Miss?
Financially: Miss. Because of the gross earnings barely even getting to the breakeven point, Sinners won’t be recognized as a financial success.
Critically: Split. Some people are calling it an artistic disaster while others see it as an undiscovered gem.
Culturally: Changing. From controversy to cult, it is possible that Sinners will be remembered more than some successful box office releases.
FAQs
1. How much did Sinners make in the theaters?
As of June 25, 2025, Sinners has made $28.4 million worldwide.
2. What was the budget of Sinners?
The reported budget was $35 million and an additional $15 million for marketing.
3. Was Sinners a flop?
Yes, based on box office performance and audience drop, it is considered a box office flop.
4. Why did Sinners fail at the box office?
A combination of misleading advertising, bad word of mouth, tougher competition, and plot confusion, led to the box office failure.
5. Will Sinners be released on streaming?
Yes, Netflix is reportedly acquiring the rights, and is expected to be released on the streaming platform in August 2025.