Filmmaker Ryan Coogler explained in a new extensive interview why he decided to helm the period vampire horror feature Sinners before Black Panther 3. Coogler’s debut movie was Fruitvale Station. He followed it up with Creed, the seventh installment in the Rocky franchise.
He subsequently landed the job of writing and directing the solo Black Panther (2018) feature and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) for the MCU. However, instead of developing the third entry in his Black Panther movie series, Coogler decided to write, direct, and produce Sinners, a movie to be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Why Black Panther 3 was pushed so Sinners could happen
Ryan Coogler gave a detailed interview to Deadline in which he discussed his career, his life, his upcoming movie Sinners, and the reasons why he decided to make it before Black Panther 3.
He explained that it stemmed from the realization that he hadn’t yet opened himself up to the audience. He spoke at length of his late Uncle James, who was from Mississippi, where Sinners is set. Coogler also revealed that he associated Blues music, which is a prominent part of the movie, to Uncle James.
“It is interesting for you to ask where this came from, and timing it before Black Panther 3,” Coogler said. “It was my realization that I had been on this path of what I could make and what I wanted to make. And realizing they had all been in the service of stories that were outside of myself.”
When asked what he meant, Coogler explained that Fruitvale Station “was a real story that happened,” while he did Creed for his father, Sylvester Stallone, and the latter’s associates. He added that Black Panther “was an open directing assignment, a job” he was hired to do.
Cooger noted the impact Chadwick Boseman’s death had on these movies before indicating that Sinners was something of his own in entirety. He realized that he would be able to do it at this point in his career and went for it.
Sinners debuts in US theaters on April 18, 2025.
Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on SuperHeroHype.
