Will ‘Sinners’ sink its teeth into a sequel?

Audiences can’t seem to get enough of Sinners starring Michael B Jordan— Ryan Coogler’s gritty, music-infused vampire thriller that has taken cinemas by storm.

As the film wraps up its first weekend with a remarkable £36.5 million ($45.6 million) over the Easter holiday in the US, fans are already demanding to know: will Sinners return with a sequel?

Despite the success, director Ryan Coogler is playing it coy. Speaking to EBONY, he admitted, “I never think about that… I’ve been in a space of making franchise films for a bit, so I wanted to get away from that.”

It’s a surprising stance, given the film’s explosive reception and a tantalising mid-credits scene that hints at more to come.

Sinners reunites Coogler with Creed and Black Panther star Michael B Jordan, who takes on dual roles as twin brothers Smoke and Stack.

The R-rated period horror sees the siblings entangled in a brutal world of vampires, vengeance, and Southern gothic terror. Jordan stars alongside Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O’Connell, and Miles Caton.

The film ends on a bittersweet note: Stack is turned into a vampire by his lover Mary (Steinfeld), while Smoke is gunned down after a violent standoff with a clan of vampiric white supremacists. A poignant afterlife reunion with Smoke’s late wife Annie (Mosaku) provides emotional closure — but a mid-credits epilogue, set decades later, reveals Stack and Mary are still very much (undead and) active.

Despite the loose threads that could lead to further storytelling, Coogler insists Sinners was conceived as a standalone film. “I wanted the movie to feel like a full meal — your appetisers, starters, entrees, and desserts,” he said. “That was always my intention.”

However, with Sinners dethroning A Minecraft Movie from the top spot — the latter having raked in a global total of £577 million ($720.8 million) — the financial incentive to expand the world of Sinners may prove hard to resist.

Coogler, whose previous credits include Fruitvale Station, Creed, and two Black Panther films, has certainly earned the trust of both studios and audiences.

While he may be reluctant to dive into another franchise just yet, the bloodthirsty demand for more Sinners suggests the story might not end here.

Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O’Connell, Miles Caton, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, and Delroy Lindo, is now showing in cinemas.