Ben Stiller and Patrick Schwarzenegger are among the prominent figures who challenged Variety after the entertainment publication shared a tweet that seemed to downplay the opening weekend box office performance of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.
“Sinners has amassed $61 million in its global debut,” the outlet tweeted alongside a link to an article about the weekend’s box office results.
“It’s a great result for an original, R-rated horror film, yet the Warner Bros. release has a $90 million price tag before global marketing expenses, so profitability remains a ways away.”
People quickly began challenging the tweet’s framing, with Stiller being one of the more prominent figures to speak up.
“In what universe does a 60 million dollar opening for an original studio movie warrant this headline?” he tweeted in response to Variety.
Schwarzenegger also replied to Variety’s tweet, writing, “It’s opening weekend …”
More prominent figures criticized the outlet, with some like The Black List’s Franklin Leonard highlighting that Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood earned less in its opening weekend but was still considered successful.
Some users suggested the tweet’s framing had racial undertones. “Variety saw a black director doing well and said not on my watch,” one person tweeted, as shown below.
According to Variety, Sinners has pulled in $63.5 million at the global box office. The publication reports that Warner Bros. spent $90 million producing it. Its domestic opening was the strongest since Jordan Peele’s Us launched with $71 million back in 2019.
Directed, written, and co-produced by Coogler, Sinners takes place in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, where twin brothers, Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore (Jordan) head back to their hometown for a fresh start, but find themselves facing supernatural entities.
The movie also features Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Li Jun Li, Buddy Guy, and Delroy Lindo.
