Sinners latest rating update and $50M+ budget shows Hollywood may not be afraid of gory big-budget horror

Sinners, Ryan Coogler's much-anticipated film, is just around the corner. He makes his return to directing after working on Marvel's successful tentpole projects. His latest film deals with the themes of racism through a supernatural horror narrative. The narrative follows Michael B. Jordan in a dual role of twin brothers returning to their town to find themselves in a threat against vampires.

Set in the Jim Crow era, the film blends the elements of historical fiction with horror. The trailers revealed the dark and mysterious nature of its story, filled with gore and violence. So, unlike Coogler's previous big-scale films, Sinners has received an R rating from the MPAA for its use of strong bloody violence, s*xual content, and language. That seems surprising at times when studios are less averse to creative risks.

In another speculative article, we discussed Jurassic World Rebirth and whether it would receive an R rating due to its darker themes. It is highly unlikely that it will receive anything but a PG-13 rating, considering the potential effect on the box office collections. So, Sinners becomes a rare example of an R-rated horror film made with an almost $90 million budget backed by Warner Bros. Pictures, despite being unrelated to a pre-established intellectual property.

It offers hope that Hollywood might still embrace gory big-budget horror after all. However, the creative risk might be rooted in some other factors.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the writer's opinion. Reader's discretion is advised.

Recent history of R-rated Horror movies explored, ahead of the release of Ryan Coogler's Sinners

If we look at the recent history of horror movies, we can find more than a few R-rated movies that were hits. They might not have grossed as much as Deadpool & Wolverine, Joker, or Oppenheimer, but they have proven successful in their own right. In the last two years, Neon backed Osgood Perkins' Longlegs and The Monkey, both were R-rated and commercially successful. Longelegs was reportedly the highest-grossing independent film of 2024.

Coralie Fargeat's The Substance, also an R-rated horror film, was a huge commercial success. The Substance was reportedly made with $17.5 million while Longlegs was made with a budget of less than $10 million. Unlike these success stories, there were also some commercial blows. One of them was Ari Aster's Beau is Afraid. With a budget of $35 million, it was reportedly A24's most expensive movie to date.

The famed independent studio co-produced and distributed this surreal psychological thriller-horror film that is not accessible. It was rated R for its use of strong violent content, s*xual content, drug use, graphic nudity, and language. However, the studio might have taken this creative risk after seeing Aster's previous two projects pan out considerably well. It brings up back to Sinners.

Is Hollywood open to making gory R-rated Horror films?

As mentioned before, Ari Aster's Hereditary and Midsommar were critically and commercially successful. Hereditary was also their highest-grossing movie upon its theatrical release in 2018. Lately, Robert Eggers' Nosferatu crossed $180.2 million against a reported budget of $50 million. These stories show that there is still an appetite among the audience to watch an R-rated horror film.

Their success may be attributed to successful promotional campaigns that built intrigue about the respective films. Regardless, this success could encourage studios to support projects like Sinners. That may explain why a major studio like Warner Bros. Pictures decided to support an R-rated Horror film.

The budget for Sinners might raise some eyebrows since it becomes a riskier project for the studio. However, they might have gained confidence in the film considering Ryan Coogler's triumphant stint at Marvel—much like A24's confidence with Aster's Beau is Afraid.