JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
"Sinners" is a supernatural horror film set in 1930s Mississippi. It's about blues music and vampires.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) There are legends of people with the gift of making music so true it can conjure spirits from the past and the future. This gift can bring fame and fortune.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) Will somebody take me...
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Whoo (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) ...In your arms?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) But it also can pierce the veil between life and death.
SUMMERS: It's also a box office hit, which has spurred a parallel conversation about Hollywood and director Ryan Coogler. Aisha Harris hosts NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, and she's here to tell us about the larger story around "Sinners." Hi, Aisha.
AISHA HARRIS, BYLINE: Hey, great to be here.
SUMMERS: OK, Aisha, I have not seen "Sinners" yet, so I'm excited to talk with you about this. Can you just give us all a taste of what this movie's about?
HARRIS: The gist of it is, it's 1932. Michael B. Jordan is playing these enterprising twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, and they return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, after being away in Chicago for a few years. They buy a sawmill. They set it up as a juke joint for the Black people in their community to just, like, you know, let off steam and relax. And then the juke joint attracts, as you've already mentioned, some vampires, and then it gets kind of crazy (laughter).
SUMMERS: OK, I'm definitely going to have to check this one out. This is a cinematic partnership, though. You wrote for NPR's website that director Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan - they're really symbiotic. What is it that makes the two of them work so well?
HARRIS: Since Coogler's debut, "Fruitvale Station" in 2013, Michael Jordan has been involved in every one of Coogler's projects. And so, together, they've made "Creed," "Black Panther," "Wakanda Forever." And while they were doing this, Coogler turned Jordan into a movie star, and in turn, Jordan helped Coogler create these stories that really show different sides of Black masculinity.
Now, I think that, like, we should also note that, of course, Coogler has a lot of people he's worked with consistently over various projects - production design, music and costuming - but it's really because Michael B. Jordan is the star of these films, this is the one we sort of latch on to the most. And it's been a really, really interesting partnership to watch them both grow creatively and artistically.
SUMMERS: "Sinners" has raked in over $71 million in North American movie theaters since it opened last weekend. Can you just help me put that into some perspective?
HARRIS: Yeah. I mean, this is huge because you have an R-rated horror movie with a predominantly Black cast. And then on top of that, this is an completely original story. It's not based on any previous franchises or intellectual property. And usually when we're talking about, you know, these big box office successes, we're talking about, you know, the franchises. We're talking about "Avengers," "Star Wars," like, Marvel movies.
And this movie has really benefited from the goodwill everyone has towards Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan but also just really, really strong word of mouth. We're seeing this past week - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - it's raking in 7 - around 7 million, 8 million dollars on each of those individual days. And so people are seeing this and they're telling other people to see it, and it just - it bodes very well that we are seeing something so original get so much success at the box office.
SUMMERS: I know there's been a lot of conversation this week about Ryan Coogler's special deal with the studio Warner Bros. Help us understand what makes that so unique.
HARRIS: There are multiple components to that deal that are just really, really sweet, but the biggest thing is that he gets the ownership rights reverted back to him after 25 years. There is a very short list of precedents when it comes to directors being able to achieve that. Tarantino - Quentin Tarantino - is the most recent example with "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood."
But given that Ryan Coogler is a Black director and he's only 38 years old, it's just really, really astonishing that he was able to capitalize off of all of the money, the billions of dollars he's made, from his previous hits and convince Warner to give him this. And it has industry people shaking in their boots and wringing their hands. But I think anyone looking at this and knowing what Coogler has been able to do - it makes sense, and it's really, really just great to see someone like him get to take advantage of all the work he's done.
SUMMERS: That's Aisha Harris, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. Thank you so much.
HARRIS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON'S "GRAND CLOSIN'") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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