Ryan Coogler And His Proximity Team Talk ‘Sinners' Box Office Success

Forbes

22-04-2025

Proximity Media co-founders Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian attend the European premiere ... More of "Sinners" at Cineworld Leicester Square on April 14, 2025 in London, England.
'I haven't even begun to reckon with the fact that this movie is number one. It's crazy. This movie is about like my uncle. It is bizarre, but when I think about it, when I take my feelings out of it, I'm not surprised.'
That is what writer and director Ryan Coogler had to say on Monday, following the news that his horror film Sinners took the top spot at the domestic box office this past weekend, grossing an estimated $46 million, which makes the project the highest grossing original film (non-IP) since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Largely centered around twin brothers (with both characters played by the actor Michael B. Jordan) in 1930s Mississippi, Sinners is a bold musical feast, led by composer Ludwig Göransson, and is filled with strong ensemble acting performances, breathtaking visuals through the lens of cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw and a thought-provoking narrative surrounding rather ruthless vampires - all while filmed with IMAX cameras.
Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler on the set of "Sinners"
At the forefront of Sinners is Coogler, previously known for his Creed films, his Black Panther films, Judas and the Black Messiah, Fruitvale Station and more. Around 2018, Coogler founded the multi-media production company, Proximity Media, with a mission to create innovative content across film, television, music and podcasts.
Having built out Proximity alongside his co-founders Zinzi Coogler and Zev Ohanian, and following the moviegoing success of Sinners, I sat down with these three creative partners to better understand Proximity's journey thus far, their goals moving forward and how it feels to see their groundbreaking filmmaking choices pay off.
Jeff Conway: When you were making this Proximity Media company, what was it about the entertainment industry at the time that you perhaps saw a void with? And now, in these years since, how have you evolved and changed the company, as the world has changed?
Ryan Coogler: Great question, man. I don't know if we saw a void as much as like we saw an opportunity. There was an opportunity with us and our careers, more than any particular void for me. Making a production company was something that I thought about a lot. When we first made Fruitvale [Station]
, I was living with Zinzi. I convinced Sev to move up from LA to help produce the film. We were hearing a lot about like - Hey, man. This isn't how things are normally done - because some of our crew was older, but by the end of it, everybody was so pleased with how it turned out and the experience. So, we were talking about maybe we should make this a thing back in 2013, but then we kind of went our separate ways while staying in touch.
Zinzi Coogler and Ryan Coogler attend the premiere Of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Creed" at Regency ... More Village Theatre on November 19, 2015 in Westwood, California.
I got Creed and I tried to bring Zev on, but it was already too many producers - they kind of blocked that. Zinzi took off from work and moved to Philly with me to make Creed and worked on that movie as a sign language interpreter on-set. She was great on-set in forming relationships with the folks making that movie. Sylvester Stallone was really impressed with her. Sev was still grinding - I think Sev might have produced like 10 movies in-between Fruitvale and Searching, and he was making relationships.
(Left to right) Sev Ohanian, Rachel Morrison, Ryan Coogler, Haroula Rose and Gerard McMurray attend ... More the "Fruitvale Station" Cannes screening dinner held aboard the Harle Yacht on May 16, 2013 in Cannes, France.
I made [Black] Panther and Zinzi came with me again to Atlanta. While we were in post-production on Panther, Charles King, who very famously left being an agent and started his own company - I was in post-production on Panther and up to my eyeballs in work, he was saying like - You can't see this but now is the time where you got to make your company.
Conway: Zinzi and Zev, these seven years into Proximity, how have you noticed, alongside Ryan, that your production company has evolved over the years?
Zinzi Coogler: We started out with the intention of making feature films for the theatrical experience. That's kind of what Sev and Ryan really had the greatest passion for and all of us. Over the years, we've adapted to the industry - we've expanded to include a television division that we're so equally excited and passionate about. We also have this love for podcasting, so we have an audio division. Ryan and Ludwig and us have such a long history together. Shortly after we established ourselves as producers under the Proximity banner, we had a music component to ourselves, where we would support our filmmakers with Ludwig and his incredible birth of knowledge and talent and understanding of music and how to support the sounds of a film. It was such a unique kind of advantage, knowing that every piece of the process was just as urgent and important to us, including the music.
We're very proud of the soundtrack we made with Judas and the Black Messiah - the podcast that accompanied it. We love being able to surround the films that we make and the things that we make with more for the audience to absorb and learn about. We find ourselves in some complex storytelling realms, sometimes, and we found that having more spaces to rest in that conversation of how we've made what we've made and the people behind the curtain to talk more about what it took to get us there. It's an incredible dream of ours to have landed where we landed. I know we're quite young and we are still always finding ourselves. We're grateful for the attention that might come our way, but mostly, it's just how proud we are to support our filmmakers and make what we do.
Zev Ohanian: I say this all the time, but even to Zinzi's point, we've expanded and we cover a number of different mediums, whether it's audio, music, nonfiction, or TV or film for narrative. I do think a lot of what makes this work is that at the end of the day, it's still the same values that the three of us put to the top of the priority list. It's like having a really good work ethic - having an eternal optimism, when it comes to projects that sometimes don't feel all that possible. I still marvel at the fact that our first movie together was Fruitvale Station - the true story, a really ambitious film. When we formed as a company, the first movie out was Judas and the Black Messiah, which is another really challenging film to make, and I feel proud to say that I think we at Proximity were able to be helpful to [director and co-writer] Shaka King and our partners in Macro at finding a way to thread that needle.
Even with Sinners - I do think we've kind of found a space where we as the production company can help navigate challenging movies that maybe on the surface don't feel like obvious bets, but we really pride ourselves in finding any way possible to make them happen, even if it has to happen in an accelerated pace, like Sinners did.
(Left to right) Ruth E. Carter, Jack O'Connell, Sev Ohanian, Omar Benson Miller, Wunmi Mosaku, Zinzi ... More Coogler, Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Jayne Lawson, Miles Caton, Li Jun Li, Delroy Lindo, Rebecca Cho, Serena McKinney and Ludwig Goransson attend the European premiere of "Sinners" at Cineworld Leicester Square on April 14, 2025 in London, England.
Conway: Your film Sinners is now the highest grossing original film domestically at the weekend box office, post-Covid. So, what does it mean to you to see the response that your project is receiving?
Ryan: I'm incredibly proud of these two, personally. This is my first experience with just them as my producers and they were incredible. I know them, so I know how great they are, but I was still blown away by what we were able to accomplish. I knew that we had to go fast. When we started initially, the movie was not this big, conceptually. It was not a movie for IMAX screens and it wasn't like cosmically epic. That developed after we got going and their ability to be adaptable and their ability to kind of make me feel seen, when I'm talking about these crazy ideas and concepts. I was very fortunate to have them. We've done insanely difficult movies together - like movies that wouldn't seem as difficult as they are. We value the entertainment factor. We care about that as much as we care about everything else. We see that as our jobs - we see that as our reason for existing.
Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler on the set of "Sinners"
How do we bring audiences in closer proximity to subjects that are often overlooked? Through event-based entertainment. We want to make movies that feel like you have to get out and go see them immediately, without sacrificing the entertainment factor - without sacrificing the fact that we're giving you maybe a perspective on something that's often there, but it's being overlooked, right? To have them there having my back, who are so good, so experienced, but also know me - and know the people that I work with and know how to navigate them.
I was just incredibly impressed and I loved making this movie, man - like I never loved making a movie before. I was going to work with my partners. Jeff, I haven't even begun to reckon with the fact that this movie is number one. It's crazy. This movie is about like my uncle. It is bizarre, but when I think about it, when I take my feelings out of it, I'm not surprised.
We've done it before. Space Jam[: A New Legacy] was number one during the pandemic, where people have been trying to make that movie for I don't know how long. We had to thread the needle with LeBron's time, before he went to go on a championship finish during Covid and navigate all types of strife with that picture. We came of age on Judas. People have been trying to make that movie for 40 years. I think you could argue that, that movie is detailed and journalistic, while at the same time, maintaining the dignity of the family. Those movies have not been adapted for a very particular reason. I firmly believe that Shaka brought that project to us and we delivered for that man in a way that only we could have done with our partners, Warner Bros. and Macro. I do feel like we kind of forged in fire.
I am surprised that we are having this conversation at number one to a certain extent, but to another extent, I have all the faith in the world in these two here. When we get together, if we put our heads down and work like we're supposed to, good things tend to happen.
Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian attend the "Sinners" photocall on April 13, 2025 in ... More London, England.
Zev: I just got to add to Ryan's point - Sinners is the culmination of everything that's come before for the three of us. It represents the biggest possible execution of everything we basically learned. I also think it is a sign of everything we want to be doing at Proximity and everything that's to come. There's no better demonstration of what at Proximity we're aiming to make and will continue to make, than I think Sinners. This is the type of experience that we want to keep delivering to audiences and the scope and scale and the breadth of the themes - that is 100% it.
Conway: Lastly, what do you want to say to Sinners moviegoers out there that have already praised your work, your cast, your crew, your cinematography, your production design, your music? What do you want to say to these people that have seen the film and are championing it across social media?
A scene from the film "Sinners"
Zinzi: We worked so hard on this film because we love the theatrical experience so much, that we would do whatever it took to give people the experience of a good time at the movies. Ryan and I's first date was at the movies. Sev proposed to his wife at the movies. So, to say how much the theatrical experience means to us, there's not enough words, but we know that the communal experience and experiencing something together, it's the basis of our name as a company, Proximity. We wanted to bring people physically in closer proximity to each other, to experience something together. Strangers next to you - reactions that kind of feed you while you're experiencing the film. We wanted to have a good time at the movies and we hope we delivered for audiences, and we are so grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of just excitement and joy and celebration of this film. I am floating right now - absolutely floating. I couldn't be more humbled and grateful by people showing up and showing out for us. It feeds us to allow us to sustain just how hard it is to make a film and to make a film that connects with audiences. Unwavering gratitude to everyone.
Zev: I always had a feeling the movie was going to find a good audience. I have that faith in Ryan - I have that faith in us, but the type of discourse I'm seeing on the internet is like, to Zinzi's point, an absolute dream come true - that in the depths of making a challenging movie like this one, or any movie, you can only hope that people connect to what you're trying to do. It's absolutely warming every cell of my body to see people really reacting, responding to the incredible performances and the great work that everyone who worked on this film put together.
(Left to right) Li Jun Li, Jayme Lawson, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi ... More Mosaku, Omar Benson Miller, Ryan Coogler, Miles Caton and Jack O'Connell attend the Warner Bros Pictures' "Sinners" New York Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on April 03, 2025 in New York City.
Ryan: The movie was for the moviegoer - that was what we would always talk about. We had the blessing of knowing that this movie was going to come out in theaters. Everybody knew that, everybody who worked on the movie cared about that. I would often remind people on-set - I would say - Big movie! Big national release! - because everybody on-set knows what that means. We did not come of age during the post-pandemic, post-social media world. We came of age before that stuff, when going to the movies was a different thing, where you had a lot higher likelihood of being surprised - where you could walk into a Blockbuster [Video store] and take a risk. It meant something - it wasn't just like scrolling and clicking the square.
That feeling - we have all released movies that have done really well. We are relatively young. We will never let ourselves take that for granted - what the audience has done for us in our lives - like how they have showed up for us. How they've shown up for us at times when people doubted whether or not they will show up.
(Left to right) Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld and Miles Caton attend the red ... More carpet for "Sinners" at Plaza Universidad on March 31, 2025 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Audiences showed up. They had our backs. I made a movie about police shootings. I'm going to make a Black Rocky - [people said] Nobody wants to see that. The fear and anxiety around the projects that we've done and the audience showing up, and proving us right and the dollars wrong. We owe it to them - that for me saying we did good on our end of the bargain. We delivered for these people who've always supported us. The only thing I can say is thank you. The movie was for them.