The summer movie season is officially upon us and Marvel was there to officially usher it in as the studio’s latest superhero team-up flick Thunderbolts* arrived. As per usual, Marvel found itself atop the box office charts with a $76 million domestic debut. The film also took over the majority of IMAX screens across the country, which had helped boost Ryan Coogler’s horror sensation Sinners across its first two weekends of release. Rather miraculously, the vampire flick didn’t suffer one bit from losing those premium format screens.
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Warner Bros. and Coogler’s Sinners added an estimated $33 million domestically over the weekend which is, frankly, astonishing. That’s a mere 28% drop compared to its previous weekend despite the stiff competition from Thunderbolts*. IMAX tickets cost more and that was certainly padding the film’s numbers in the early going. Word of mouth is now so strong that audiences are flocking to whatever screen they can see it on.
That third weekend is better than the third weekend for 2017’s It ($29.7 million), which went on to make more than $700 million worldwide, becoming the biggest horror movie ever. Sinners, as it stands, has amassed $179.7 million domestically to go with $57 million internationally for a running total of $236.7 million globally. This one won’t touch It, but it’s also not based on anything. It’s an original movie and now ranks as one of the biggest original movies Hollywood has released in years.
It has already passed Jordan Peele’s NOPE ($123.2 million domestic/$171.2 million worldwide) and Parker Finn’s Smile ($105.9 million domestic/$217.4 million worldwide). It has also passed the domestic total of Pixar’s Elemental ($154.4 million domestic/$496.4 million worldwide). At the current rate of decline, Coogler’s latest has a real shot at touching the domestic total of Gravity ($274 million domestic/$723.7 million worldwide) to become the biggest original hit in North America in over a decade.
While Sinners won’t touch some of those global totals, what it’s managed to accomplish as an R-rated, wholly original horror movie is downright astonishing. What’s more, given the rave reviews and the fact that Coogler is behind it, some Oscar nominations are by no means out of the question. So, despite the much-discussed $90 million production budget, this is going to rank as one of the biggest hits of 2025 when all’s said and done.
Elsewhere in the realm of horror, Until Dawn held reasonably well with $3.8 million in its second frame, down 53%. It has amassed just shy of $35 million globally. It’s not going to be a huge winner for Sony but the $15 million production budget should allow this one to be a modest success. Just don’t expect to see a sequel unless it breaks out on VOD. Meanwhile, David Cronenberg’s latest The Shrouds sadly failed to catch on in its third weekend, pulling in $90,600 on 169 screens. That one will have to find its audiences on VOD/streaming, unfortunately. Blumhouse's Drop also took its last gasps of breath after arriving on VOD, pulling in $214,000 on its fourth weekend. It has made just shy of $28 million globally against a $12 million budget.
Looking ahead, this upcoming weekend will see the release of director Eli Craig’s Clown in a Cornfield. Against rave reviews, the hope is that one can break out, relatively speaking. The following weekend brings a monster upon us as Final Destination: Bloodlines arrives in IMAX. That figures to be the first true horror smash of the summer. Just how big will it be? We’ll know soon enough.
You can see the full list of the top ten movies at the box office for the weekend of May 2, 2025, below. For more, check out our list of the best movies streaming on Shudder this month.
- Thunderbolts* – $76 million (first weekend)
- Sinners – $33 million (third weekend)
- A Minecraft Movie – $13.7 million (fifth weekend)
- The Accountant 2 – $9.4 million (second weekend)
- Until Dawn – $3.8 million (second weekend)
- The Amateur – $1.8 million (fourth weekend)
- The King of Kings – $1.6 million (fourth weekend)
- Warfare – $1.2 million (fourth weekend)
- HIT: The 3rd Case – $955,000 (first weekend)
- Guru Nanak Jahaz – $685,000 (first weekend)
