This week on Monday, Sinners passed Gravity for 2nd on the list of the highest grossing, original films in the last 15 years. Here is who is also on the list:
- Inception (2010) – $293 million
- Sinners (2025) – $277 million
- Gravity (2013) – $274 million
- Interstellar (2014) – $203 million (re-released in 2025)
- Dunkirk (2017) – $190 million
- A Quiet Place (2018) – $188 million
- Get Out (2017) – $176 million
- Us (2019) – $175 million
- Bridesmaids (2011) – $169 million
- The Heat (2013) – $160 million
Seeing how much a lot of our blockbusters make each year, $160 million doesn’t seem like too big of an amount to get to. However, the vast majority of the moneymakers are adaptations or sequels. It is rare for an original films to bring in that kind of money, In 2024, the best an original film did in the Box Office was If in May. That film made a total of $111 million during it’s theatrical run. So, I guess rather than dwell on how rare it is of an original film to capture audiences so well, we should just applaud Coogler for really catching lightning in a bottle. On to the reviews!
In this thriller on Apple TV+, we find Kate (Julianne Moore), the owner of a farm, where she trains horses, as she is coping with a personal tragedy. One night, her daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) comes home covered in blood that is not hers. Now, Kate decide if she is going to do to protect her daughter. This was kind of a dreadful film to watch. Nobody is bad per se in it, but things just get worse and worse in it, and there is no semblance of joy anywhere in it. I’m not saying I needed jokes in this, but maybe a hint of humor might have cut into the unpleasantness a little. This was just an exercise in doing anything you can for your child, even when they have a problem that you are not capable of helping with. Fun times.
This one felt like a lame duck as it got poster and closer to release. This was a film that was supposed to come out last June, but got delayed a full year now. I could go on right now about how Disney and Pixar has treated this film leading up to its release, but that’ll be in a post layer in the week. Instead now, I’ll just talk about the actual film. This was so much better than I thought it was going to be. While not really in the upper echelon of the Pixar catalog, it was a fun movie that has heart to it, and has surprising emotional moments towards the end, like any good Pixar movie has. There are quibbles I can have with it, like I would really like to have more than four characters that were meaningful, in the story itself is kind of simple. The trailer we had for this film last year made this look a completely different film than the one we have now, and from what we see in that trailer, I think that would’ve been a better movie than what they went with instead. Even though these recent original films from Pixar have been disappointing when you compare them to Up or Coco, I would still rather have them try with these than get a Toy Story 5 or Incredibles 3.
it has been 23 years since Danny Boyle and Alex Garland brought the world 28 Days Later. The excellent flip on the zombie story changed that area of the genre. Five years later, a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was released without Boyle part of the creation, and it was a good film, but not as good as Days. Now, after over a decade of talking about it, the next installment of this series upon is, with Boyle and Garland pretty much pretending Weeks never happened. Instead, what we have now is a possible 28 Years Later trilogy, starting with this weekend’s installment. When we begin this film, we see the British Isles remain in quarantine to contain the Rage Virus. Our characters live on an island connected to the mainland by only a causeway that is available durning low tide. While out on his first “hunt” with his father, Jamie (Taylor-Johnson), his son Spike (Alfie Williams) sees a fire in the distance. When they return home, he learns that fire is coming from where a doctor is, and Spike decides to take his sick mother, Isla (Comer), to see him. With the infected evolving over time to be more dangerous, the trek to see the doctor (Fiennes) is filled with plights, and there are some good sequences throughout the film. There just isn’t a lot of them as this film is more worried about beginning a trilogy, so the plot is stretched out for 2 hours. One would think that maybe some of the issues I had with this might be answered in January when Part 2 comes out, but that is assuming a lot. I just wanted more than what we got here. Did I want the 12-year old only making his second trip off the island to have more issues? I guess, but my issue was more in the editing. We get cuts to old footage from previous wars cut into he film throughout, and it is just awkward. This is proving to be a polarizing film, so nothing I say here should be taken as the truth. This is going to be a film that will need to find an audience if we are ever going to get that part 3 of this new trilogy.
Only two new releases next weekend that will make any real noise, and for my guess, I will turn to the estimates theater counts. F1 is looking at 3,800 theaters, and a lot of IMAX showings, and M3gan 2.0 is estimated at 3,000 theaters. That difference, and having the premium screens, makes me think F1 will have best weekend.
- F1: The Movie
- M3gan 2.0
- How to Train Your Dragon
- 28 Years Later
- Elio
Another trio of films this year, two in the theater, and one on Apple TV+. The fun thing this Wednesday will be a MCU ranking post, and it won’t just be my rankings either….
Mitten Film Nerd 
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