How IMAX Helped the 'Sinners' Box Office Grow

The story of the year so far is Ryan Coogler's Sinners, which, as of May 21st, has made $318,923,168 at the worldwide box office.

It's been a massive success for Warner Bros. and a cultural sensation.

And behind it all is an impressive rollout that completely understood that audiences wanted a reason to go to the movies, and they needed a film that demanded to be seen on the biggest screens possible: IMAX.

Sinners entire narrative has been driven by the use of IMAX cameras, with a ton of its marketing built around the use of IMAX cameras, film stock, and the biggest and best screens across the world.

The film, which premiered on April 18, 2025, leveraged the premium format to enhance its immersive experience, translating directly into impressive ticket sales.

And the cost of those tickets helped the box office surge, as well.

Another big story on Sinners was its staying power in theaters, with only a tiny 6% drop-off in subsequent weeks.

For example, in its second weekend of release, IMAX screenings accounted for a remarkable $12.3 million of the film's $58.5 million global box office haul, representing approximately 21% of the total from the large-screen format.

By that point, the cumulative global IMAX gross for Sinners had already reached $30.6 million, contributing a significant 19% to the movie's overall earnings.

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When the film was doing unprecedented numbers, WB also allowed it to be rereleased in 70mm, catering to continued audience demand for the premium viewing experience.

If there was one lesson to learn from all of this, it's that IMAX can help bolster any hit, and just the use of IMAX cameras can help drive audiences to the box office, because they see that as a sign that this is going to be an event film.

And it would be silly not to mention that Sinners marketing is leaning into all the IMAX things, with Coogler's video explaining film formats and the cinematography BTS was incredibly smart. Those videos went viral and drove people to the biggest screens and most expensive tickets.

The robust performance in IMAX theaters highlights a growing trend where audiences are willing to pay a premium for a more immersive and visually spectacular cinematic experience, especially for genre films like Sinners that can fully utilize the enhanced capabilities of the format.

This relationship between the film's content and the IMAX presentation has clearly played a pivotal role in bolstering the box office growth and in the word of mouth.

Of course, making a great movie also helped, but I am excited for Ryan Coogler to make more original, IMAX movies in the future, and for the format to expand.

We need more filmmakers using these cameras and formats to drive people to the box office.

Let me know what you think in the comments.