Ryan Coogler’s original horror movie SINNERS is one of the year’s major successes, having earned more than $200 million in North America in its first 24 days to become the second highest-grossing movie of the year, and the top seller for any non-sequel or franchise movie in the past five years.
With this success has come additional attention on the unique, filmmaker-friendly deal that Coogler signed with Warner Bros. to make the movie. Even with the studio putting up all the money for production and marketing, full ownership rights will revert to Coogler after 25 years, in 2050. The filmmaker also negotiated “first dollar grosses” on box office revenues, receiving his payouts on all box office revenues, rather than only receiving a percentage after the studio has recouped its investment.
Some have written that if terms similar to Coogler’s deal became commonplace, it would represent a long-term threat to the financial models of Hollywood’s studios. On the other hand, Puck journalist Matthew Belloni wrote in a column this week that this deal structure has some precedent, and can be to the benefit of all involved.
Ever since PULP FICTION, Quentin Tarantino has structured his studio agreements to retain ownership of his films after a certain period.
A similar deal was reached between 20th Century Fox and the producers of the classic zombie movie 28 DAYS LATER, released in 2002. The producers, who included the film’s director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland, agreed to take a cheaper deal with the studio on the front end so they could recover full rights in 25 years, a date which is coming up soon in 2027.
28 DAYS LATER grossed $84 million off a $10 production budget, which led to a bidding war for sequels that resulted in a profitable deal for the filmmakers with Sony for the second and third film. The upcoming release 28 YEARS LATER on June 20th, 23 years after the original, is the culmination of Boyle and Garland’s bet on themselves with their original deal with 20th Century. Coogler’s arrangement with Warner Bros. is only the latest example of this approach, albeit on a much bigger scale.
