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Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
‘Sinners' Won't Get A Sequel And That's Exactly Why It Works
Despite speculation and wishes from fans of Ryan Coogler's recent project, Sinners, the Oakland filmmaker, confirmed that this film wasn't going to have any sequels or spinoffs. While some may find this decision surprising, especially after the film's historic box office run, which grossed $341 million, many saw this decision as a welcome change in an industry that champions cinematic universes, reboots, and spin-offs. Coogler understands that, sometimes, the creative process on its own is enough, and, with much of his career involving him breathing life into several different serialized franchises, his decision comes across as bold and earned. 'I've been in a space of making franchise films for a bit, so I wanted to get away from that,' Coogler told Ebony. 'I wanted the movie to feel like a full meal: your appetizers, starters, entrees and desserts, I wanted all of it there.' Now, especially with a rep from Warner Bros. Discovery recently dismissing claims that a sequel was in the works, Coogler's vision for an original standalone film serves as a stark contrast to the state of the diminishing returns found in other Hollywood franchises and films. Sinners, some might argue, achieved its success because it was something new and because that fresh unfamiliarity gave viewers something that they couldn't expect or easily predict. Franchise Burnout Everywhere, you can see fans of different films, TV shows, etc., experiencing burnout for sequels and franchises that, at one point in time, started as original ideas that inevitably became serialized because of their overwhelming initial success. There's been a shift in how people are consuming the films they watch, where previously reliable IPs were guaranteed to be a success, some have begun underperforming in reviews and at the box office, or even lost their goodwill amongst critics and fans alike. For example: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is currently in its fifth phase. While it's one of the most discussed IPs on the planet and has shown its success through films like Avengers: Endgame (2019) where it earned its #2 spot on the highest-grossing films of all time, bringing in $2.79 billion and a certified fresh at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, since then, many fans feel like the introduction of TV shows on Disney+ in addition to the films of their fourth and fifth phase has made keeping up with the story feel like homework instead of entertainment, coining the term 'superhero fatigue.' By 2023, The Marvels had earned the MCU its lowest box office amount and Rotten Tomatoes score, at $210 million and 62% respectively, a stark decline. Star Wars, one of the most popular and iconic franchises in our cultural zeitgeist, has also suffered from fatigue. The Rise of Skywalker (2019) earned half of what The Force Awakens made, earning $1.077 billion and a certified rotten score of 51% in comparison to $2 billion and a certified fresh score of 93%. Since then, Disney has elected to focus on creating new Star Wars content through shows on Disney+, with several of their shows finding success and some, like The Acolyte, being cancelled after one season. Harry Potter, while the franchise is still going strong with a reboot currently in the works, its spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them earned $814 million and a certified fresh score of 74%. Still, the film, which was originally standalone, turned into a trilogy and by its end Fantastic Beast: The Secrets of Dumbledore earned nearly half of the first films' profits at $405 million and even getting a rotten score of 46%, something previously unprecedented for a franchise that help build and inspire the imaginations of an entire generation. The Fast & Furious franchise, probably the most well-known for its sequels on this list of examples, is still profitable, with its latest installment, Fast X, earning $710 million in 2023. Still, critics and fans alike wonder where else the franchise can go, since the cast has literally taken their cars into outer space at his point in the series. Some critics have even described the IP as 'running on high octane fumes.' The Beauty In Telling A Complete Story Having the restraint to end something, the strength to say 'enough,' when that something has the potential to become an IP with sequels that bring in large amount of cash, but also the potential for those sequels to become stretched thin or 'trapped' following a specific formula to guarantee success, is proof that Coogler not only respects his characters and the story he wanted to and did tell, but also serves as proof that he respects his audience. I've seen Sinners six times. I fell in love with the characters, with the music, with the cinematography. I even ran to see it in IMAX 70mm to get the full experience, even though I had already seen it five times before that. I completely understand the desire for more that a story like this invokes, but I also understand the beauty and strength in telling a finished story. We're so used to watching films and shows that we know we will get a sequel or inevitably be renewed, but for Sinners, a film that's so complete in what it wants to share with it's audience, we can understand that a story doesn't need speculation or expansion. Sinners stands out by telling us that a singular story with a clear beginning, middle, and end is enough to leave us content and satisfied, viewer and director alike.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Actor-Turned-Director Harris Dickinson and His Breakout Star Frank Dillane on Their Cannes Stunner ‘Urchin'
It's hard these days to create an original film from scratch, tougher still to launch a first film in the Cannes Selection. Three actors have achieved that feat this year, all playing in Un Certain Regard, where the spotlight tends to be less harsh: Scarlett Johansson's 'Eleanor the Great,' starring American veteran June Squibb; Kristen Stewart's 'The Chronology of Water,' starring British actress Imogen Poots; and from the U.K., Harris Dickinson's 'Urchin,' which will propel Frank Dillane (son of British actor Stephen Dillane) into Best Actor Oscar contention if a distributor does right by it. All the key North American distributors attended the debut on Saturday after good word leaked out of early New York screenings. Yes, it played well. 'The applause was lovely,' said Dickinson, sitting with Dillane on the roof of the J.W. Marriott Hotel with stunning views of the Gulf of Napoule. 'We soaked it all in. We had all of our crew. We felt the love in the room. That's a good feeling, to have given so much to somebody.' More from IndieWire Jodie Foster: 'Silence of the Lambs' Filmmaker Jonathan Demme Is My 'Favorite Feminist Director' LA Mayor Karen Bass Wants to Cut the Red Tape Required to Get a Movie Made in Hollywood Dickinson, who has yet to crack 30, has been a rising star ever since he broke out in Eliza Hittman's New York indie 'Beach Rats' in 2017, followed by Ruben Östlund's 'Triangle of Sadness,' which won the Palme d'Or en route to a Best Picture nomination. The actor has written and directed countless shorts, which gave financiers confidence to back his riveting portrait of a struggling London addict (Dillane) who is by turns charming, manipulative, desperate, angry, violent, loving, joyful, childlike, and needy. It still took six years for 'Urchin' to get to Cannes. Dickinson started writing the script after working in Walthamstow on an outreach project 'that was focusing on furniture reissue with people that were unhoused,' he said. 'It was a way for them to make money. And it was also a commune where they could have a safe haven. There were welfare checks, and people close to me struggled with cyclical behavior. I've always tried to be compassionate around that and tried to understand why and how people have ended up in certain positions.' Dickinson auditioned many actors but offered the role to Dillane early on. 'I'd seen him in 'Fear of the Walking Dead' years before,' said Dickinson. 'I was intrigued about him as a performer. But then we didn't cross paths, or we never met each other. The script for me was one thing. I knew that it needed an actor to come in and elevate it and change it and turn it upside down as well. Because there's only so much a script takes you, right? And that's what he did. He was doing tai chi and breathing exercises whilst he was doing the scene: 'This is very strange, and it's perfect for the character.'' It took a couple of years to get made once Dillane was on board. 'Frank attached before we had full finance, which is rare for an actor to do,' said Dickinson. 'We were lucky that Frank believed in the project enough to just say, 'Yeah, I'm game.' And we already were prepping, even though we didn't know we were going to make it.' As soon as he read the script, Dillane was eager to jump on board. 'I remember I called you because I got the part,' Dillane said to Dickinson, 'because I just wanted to say 'yes' straight away. I didn't want there to be any lag, to go through the agents. You were in Berlin, so I was recording 'Yes, I'll do it.' The script lent itself to almost anything. It was a real opportunity to carve out our own narrative, because it was ambiguous as to what the arc was, and it seemed like the arcs completed in each scene. It was almost like Mike had no throughline, and I found that exciting as an actor, to do each scene separate from the next one. He almost lived and breathed now. He was born again, and then he dies again, and then he goes there, and he's born again. And I loved that about Harris's script, because it was completely unconventional.' In one heartbreaking scene, after seven months sober, Mike takes some ketamine with his girlfriend and her parents and is dancing and having a joyous time. He feels like he's part of the family, everybody's happy and good, and then he takes too much, and he can't contain it. He doesn't know where to stop. Dillane had played an addict during 'Fear the Walking Dead.' 'When a character is on drugs at different times,' said Dillane, 'I always tend to research the spiritual element of the drug. From researching 'Fear the Walking Dead,' the idea about heroin that got me was the idea that your cells are living and dying constantly, so you're constantly dying and being reborn. That stuck with me a bit with this, the idea of physically continuing to be born and dying.' The movie works because Dillane makes you care about this deeply flawed yet innocent character. 'People that have gone to the brink of behavior,' said Dickinson, 'the brink of morality, or brink of themselves, often are also joyous and naïve, because it helps them forget. It's like an optimism that is in the moment for today.' 'He is innocent,' said Dillane. 'That was the core of it. In order for us to be with him and to empathize with him, we have to just forgive him. And the reason we forgive him is he's a child, he's innocent, he's an orphan. He's not a bad person, just an open window. Harris kept distilling this thing of hope within me. We talked a lot about dignity in Harris. And that allowed the authenticity. So when he's making a friend, this friend that he's making is so important to him. When he relapses, it's like family, 'Finally, my people, oh, this is OK. Now, this is what we do. Everyone's just cool.' Some of us, we can't do that. Unfortunately, Mike is one of those. It's like an open window. Once you open it, you can't close it again.' Of course, Mike Leigh and 'Naked' came to mind while prepping the film, but also 'Career Girls' and 'High Hopes,' said Dickinson, 'there's no misses with Mike Leigh. I love his use of humor. He's so good at humanizing the mundane as well. It's important, because there's comedy in the simplicity of things sometimes, he does that so well.' Another reason why Dillane wanted to work with Dickinson was that he admired his short films. 'This was a big reason I did it,' said Dillane. Dickinson had been shooting shorts, including a series of skateboard videos, since he was 10 or 11. 'I made loads of short films,' he said. 'And then I made a more professional short film with BBC that led to the theatrical film. It was quite a rudimentary short, but it was a way for us to try and prove a little bit.' As production loomed, Dickinson lost one of his actors in a key role playing a friend of Mike's and reluctantly took on the role himself. 'We auditioned people,' said Dickinson. 'We got some tapes in, but I got a bit protective over that role because this is a member of the community. This is someone who is struggling, a vulnerable individual. Frank had months and months of research and time spent with advisors to understand this world and these issues. I couldn't just expect an actor to pop in a week before and get that kind of person, whereas I'd been doing that work.' It may have been the right decision, but it wasn't easy, said Dickinson. 'It was hard to direct myself and also be in a scene with someone you're directing, because I started to lose track of the background and what things were happening. And you get even more neurotic; acting is neurotic.' The film deploys long lens cinematography to capture Dillane on crowded streets. 'We always knew we wanted to enter into Mike's world in a pragmatic and simplistic way, unromantic and not trying to do trickery around life on the streets,' said Dickinson. 'We wanted to be observational and simplistic, and that was also to avoid any romanticism around it, but also just to ground it in that community. That was always important to us, and the story that we enter into as well. We believe it and we understand it, and we get a real sense of it. And then we allow ourselves to introduce surrealism, a slightly different language. We earned that.' Next up: Dillane is going home to London to do some auditions. (His stock is going to rise considerably after 'Urchin.') And Dickinson is following up 'Babygirl' and 'Blitz' as John Lennon in Sam Mendes' series of four Beatles films. Dickinson swears he'll have time to do other things as well. 'I wrote this script whilst I was working,' he said, 'I didn't take time out to write the script. I was always writing. I write when I'm on a plane. I'll be able to write and direct still. I'll have to finish the films first.'Best of IndieWire Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Movies: 65 Films the Director Wants You to See The 19 Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in May, from 'Fair Play' to 'Emily the Criminal' Martin Scorsese's Favorite Movies: 86 Films the Director Wants You to See
