Director Ryan Coogler Addresses Reaction To His Lucrative ‘Sinners’ Deal w/ Warner Bros.: ‘Nothing About This Deal Is A New Thing’

Director Ryan Coogler Addresses Reaction To His Lucrative ‘Sinners’ Deal w/ Warner Bros.: ‘Nothing About This Deal Is A New Thing’

Ryan Coogler is speaking out about the attention his Sinners contract has been getting—and says the hype is a bit overblown.

During an appearance on Democracy Now, the director reacted to reports that Warner Bros. agreed to give him first-dollar gross and ownership of the film after 25 years. “I’m not the first filmmaker to get any of these deals,” he said. “Warner Bros. is not the first studio to provide these deals to a filmmaker… Nothing about this deal is a new thing.”

 

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So why all the noise? “I’m not totally sure why. Like, I have my guesses, you know, but I’ve been in the industry long enough to know what kind of deals are possible,” he said. “The attention on what’s happening with this project, outside of it as a piece of art and as a piece of commerce, has been very interesting.”

Coogler, who’s behind global blockbusters like Black Panther, explained why this deal mattered:

“As a writer/director, I’ve made over $2 billion at the global box office. I’m not yet 40 years old… I’ve missed out on a lot of things in my life, making films that will always be owned by other people. For this one, because it was so personal… I asked for a few things that were very important to me… and thankfully… I was able to get those things I was asking for from Warner Bros.”

Sinners has made $87M at the box office so far.

Thoughts on the deal?