Sinners’ Ryan Coogler Shares What It Was Like Showing The Film To Spike Lee, And I Wish I Could’ve Been A Fly On The Wall
There’s an old adage about how it’s best to never meet your heroes, and while I respect the general idea behind it (they can never truly live up to your own expectations), one can also read that notion to be a touch cowardly. Yes, there is a chance that things will go horribly and part of your worldview will be shattered… but there is also the possibility that you can have one of the greatest experiences of your life. If you’re ever in doubt about this, just think about what happened when director Ryan Coogler got the chance to show his new 2025 movie Sinners to one of his idols: the legendary Spike Lee.
Coogler recently shared the story as a guest on an episode of 7PM In Brooklyn With Carmelo Anthony – the conversation turning to the work of Spike Lee during a discussion of the trailer for the filmmaker’s upcoming remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High And Low starring Denzel Washington. It was mentioned that Lee had been a recent guest on the show and had dubbed Sinners as “the greatest cinematic experience” he had had “in a long time,” and it was a comment that humbled the writer/director. Coogler first expressed his deep love for Malcolm X (Lee’s biopic from 1992), and then he described what it was like for him to be in a theater with him watching his latest feature:
I think Malcolm X is the most important American film ever made. No question… I was a child watching [Malcolm X] with my daddy, bro, opening night, you know what I’m saying? So, for me to give Spike a cinematic experience, I’m just paying him back with interest. But it meant the world to me to hear him say that. I cried, bro. I had to hide my… he was jumping around like Spike. I was wiping tears out my eyes. I’m sitting in an IMAX theater showing Spike Lee a movie, and he likes it? Come on, bro.
Getting proper and earned validation from anybody can be an emotional experience… but getting that validation from somebody you’ve spent your whole life looking up to and idolizing? I think that if any of us were in the circumstance that Ryan Coogler describes here, we would be shedding tears as well.
Of course, while getting approval and encouragement from Spike Lee was a big deal, the reality is that Sinners was widely praised by just about every single person who saw it prior to and during its theatrical release. The crime/horror epic starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O’Connell and Delroy Lindo has earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike (I personally gave it a five-star review for CinemaBlend), and it has been one of the biggest box office success stories of 2025. It’s still playing in some locations domestically, but to date, it has made $278 million domestically and $364.5 million worldwide.
Sinners is a movie that certainly benefitted from the big screen experience, but I highly doubt it will lose all of its impact as it moves to the home video market. The film is currently available for digital rental and purchase from all major online outlets, and it will be streamable for HBO Max subscribers starting this Friday, July 4. Those of you who are physical media collectors can pre-order the film on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD prior to its street date on July 8.
