Sinners movie cover featuring the twins, Smoke & Stack, ready to take on whatever the night has planned for them, in their own way. photo courtesy of IMDb
Audiences loved the movie Sinners, but many believe the story should end there. (Spoiler Warning)
The movie Sinners, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, was released in theaters on April 18, 2025. It had an extraordinary opening night in North America, grossing $19.2 million. The opening night was the best performance for an original film in years. After weeks of Sinners’ continued popularity, the movie left theaters and began streaming on HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Fandango. After high demand from viewers, Sinners was re-released in theaters three times in 2025 after its initial release and is scheduled for more special screenings in 2026.
The movie is about twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, returning to Mississippi from Chicago in the 1930’s with money to start a new life. They go around town, recruiting friends and family, including their little cousin Sammie, to help them start their own juke joint (a venue where mainly black people would go and listen to music, have drinks, food, serving as a cultural hub from the late 1800’s to the early 2000’s). The night starts off well, but soon, a supernatural evil infiltrates in want of something, and will stop at nothing to get it. The film is rich with representation of multiple cultures, making audiences feel emotional and connected to the characters, while also keeping them on the edge of their seats with beautiful music and spine-chilling vampires.
Sinners was hugely successful, winning two awards at the Golden Globes for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement: Best Original Score, and is the highest Oscar nominated project in history with 16 nominations. However, an interview that took place at the Warner Bros Awards with Michael P. Shawver sparked online controversy. Shawver claimed he attempted to pitch five different sequels to Ryan Coogler, stating, “A sequel would make it more universal, people want to feel their own stories in these characters that represent them, whether it be Remmick or even Sammie.” Multiple fans of the movie started making posts stating that a sequel was unnecessary and that Shawver was trying to erase the entire point of the film. Shawver’s claim that a sequel would make the movie more “universal” threw audiences off, and the fact that his first thought of a sequel was to focus on Remmick, one of the white characters, in a black-focused movie made the situation worse.
Making a sequel about Remmick, or any other characters, would in no way capture the magic and emotion the film brought to theaters as a self contained story. Audiences state that they don’t like the idea of a second movie for Sinners because they feel as though the story represented what it was meant to, the movie was already “universal,”and if the director himself feels there is nothing left to tell, then his hand shouldn’t be forced. The character of Sammy doesn’t need a sequel because we know how his story began and ended. His story was written to leave audiences with heavy hearts. After the night at the juke joint, being the only survivor, he makes the ultimate choice to leave the Mississippi Delta, leaving his family, to pursue his music, despite the fear Remmick struck in him. A sequel about Remmick simply wouldn’t grasp audiences, it would take away from the black experience which is what the movie was truly reaching for.
Sinners is a captivating film that everyone should watch at least once, but there is no room for another story to be told. The music, love, representation, and formidable storytelling has and will continue to succeed and be enjoyed by audiences without a second story being told about Remmick or any other characters.
