‘Sinners’ Celebrated: Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media Receives Key To Warner Bros Studio
- Leslie
- 15 hours ago
- 4 min read
Clients: Ryan Coogler – Writer, Director; Proximity Media – Production Company
There’s been a lot of noise in the headlines of late about the storied Warner Bros. being up for sale, but if 2025 will be remembered for anything, it’s the rebound of the Burbank, Calif. studio cofounded by Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack, not just for its $4 billion global box office (the best YTD for any major), but for having several awards contenders in the mix, including Ryan Coogler‘s Sinners.
During a two-day celebration of the Proximity Media-produced movie beginning Friday night, the Somerville restaurant in the Windsor Hills section of Los Angeles was transformed into the Juke Joint, the movie’s Southern blues hall, complete with performances from the pic’s star Miles Caton (who plays the good-hearted, talented musician Sammie Moore tempted by vampires), as well as singer Alice Smith and singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq.
The performance followed Thursday night’s American Cinematheque Award ceremony where Sinners star Michael B. Jordan was feted in a heartfelt evening, one of the youngest recipients to ever be lauded with that org’s honor (Eddie Murphy was 25 when he received the award).
“Our mission tonight was to bring you into the Juke,” said Serena Göransson — the movie’s executive music producer and collaborator of two-time Oscar-winning Sinners composer and songwriter Ludwig Göransson — before performances of the pic’s two original song Oscar submissions: “I Lied to You,” performed by Caton, Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson, and “Last Time (I Seen the Sun),” sung by Caton and Smith, a tune about introspection, redemption and the fleeting nature of freedom. Other tunes from the movie played included the Willie Dixon 1960 blues ditty “Wang Dang Doodle.”
Just as much as 1932 Mississippi is a character, so is the blues in Sinners, and Ludwig Göransson shared how much the songs personally meant for him. The Black Panther composer’s father was a blues musician in Sweden and for the longest time, yearned to embark on a historical blues tour across America. That dream finally came true with Ludwig’s prep on the film, as he traveled through the Mississippi Delta to Memphis, Tenn.
Also of note last night, Warner Bros.’ Co-Motion Picture Chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy took the opportunity to award Sinners producers and Proximity Media co-founders Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian the Key to Warner Bros. Studios. A tradition first started by Jack Warner in the 1950s, it entails bestowing a key to filmmakers and stars who Warner Bros. has deep ties with (“Talent that would make movies for generations,” said De Luca).
“It has been such an incredible joy and honor to work with Proximity,” said Abdy. “They are a family, and they are our family, and they have let us into their family. I have to say this has been one of the more extraordinary experiences ever. They are visionaries, they are passionate, they are loyal, they are some of the greatest people I’ve ever met and gotten to know, and I feel forever blessed and privileged to have this experience.”
Before the movie’s April 18 release, the net $95M period vampire production about twin brothers who return from World War I to their hometown in Clarksdale, Miss. — only to learn that the place has succumbed to the wickedness of vampires — was perceived as a gamble. For De Luca and Abdy, it was a risk worth taking, bolstering the original movie auteur output that Warner Bros. has a long history with. In attracting Coogler to the studio, De Luca and Abdy offered the Fruitvale Station helmer a deal by which Sinners’ ownership reverts to the two-time Oscar nominated filmmaker after 25 years (a deal similar to what Sony closed with Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).
Before giving the key to the Cooglers and Ohanian, De Luca read a quote from five-time Oscar winner Francis Ford Coppola, praising Sinners. The Godfather director said of the film: “Something this enormous, this personal, this epic and outrageous can’t be ignored … a historical epic, a horror film, a blues music extravaganza, an undiluted honest African American perspective, the ultimate true vampire story: slavery; with uncovered years of thinking about cinema all in one gargantuan artistic composition.”
Accepting the honor, Zinzi Coogler, thanked Warner Bros., saying, “You helped us continue our company’s mission to bring people in close proximity with each other in theaters all over the world, and for that we’ll be eternally grateful.”
“At this time, there’s so much at stake, both for you guys as individuals and the industry,” Ryan Coogler added. “It was awesome to have the ball in our hands, the opportunity to give to the theaters; you guys believed in us.”
The Sinners director, producer and writer also reflected, “About a hundred years ago, [Warner Bros.] was the site of The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool, movies that converted into talkies, had a lot of music in them, but had complicated racial themes, so I thought it was really a full circle moment to get this honor.”
Also in attendance last night were Sinners cast members Jordan, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Omar Benson Miller, Jayme Lawson and Buddy Guy, as well as casting director Francine Maisler, costume designer Ruth Carter, production designer Hannah Beachler, editor Michael Shawver and DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw. Further guests included Don Cheadle, Sterling K. Brown, Taylour Paige, Janelle James, Anika Noni Rose, Djimon Honsou, Lynn Whitfield, Vivica A. Fox, Skai Jackson, Karen Pittman and Lamorne Morris.