After pulling the box office out of its slump with “A Minecraft Movie,” Warner Bros. is now taking a roll of the dice with the ambitious, original horror film “Sinners,” whose box office fortunes hinge in good part on how much the cultural legacy of “Black Panther” has permanently rubbed off on its writer-director, Ryan Coogler.
“Sinners” is Coogler’s first original film since his feature debut “Fruitvale Station,” after which he went on to launch the “Rocky” spinoff series “Creed” and then lead Marvel Studios to its first Best Picture nomination with “Black Panther” in 2018. His 2022 sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” earned a less enthusiastic reception from critics and audiences but was still widely praised for how it paid tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman.