A test-screening for Black Panther director Ryan Cooger's Depression-era vampire movie, Sinners, reportedly took place last week, and World of Reel has now shared a report on the consensus from those in attendance.
Though major plot details are not divulged, there will be some spoilers from this point on.
First off, the response to the movie seems to be somewhat tepid. While Michael B. Jordan's performance in a dual role came in for a lot of praise, the majority of people who got to see the film felt that it was merely "fine" or "decent." It also seems that initial reports that Jordan is playing vampire brothers were not accurate.
One of the brothers embarks on a relationship with Hailee Steinfeld's character, who sounds like she may ultimately turn out to be a villain.
According to WOR, "The actual plot has to do with twin brothers, Elijah and Elias (Jordan), who try to leave their troubled lives behind and head south, after spending years in Capone-inflicted Chicago. They return to their hometown, where slavery was recently abolished, but the KKK still looms large."
From what we can gather, the vampire element will emerge from within the KKK themselves. The ending is also expected to lead to "a lot of controversy," though we don't have much more to go on.
Back when we first heard about this project, it was said to be so top secret that "executives and buyers were forced to make the pilgrimage to the Beverly Hills offices of WME, the agency that represents Coogler and Jordan, in order to take a gander at the script," but some details have since leaked.
The film was initially described as a "genre feature," with a "period element to the story," and we'd later learn that it was actually going to be set in Jim Crow-era South and possibly involve both vampires and Southern supernatural traditions.
Coogler also penned the script and is on board as lead producer along with Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian.
Coogler's last feature was Marvel Studios Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which saw Jordan reprise his role as Erik Killmonger for an afterlife cameo. Last we heard, the filmmaker was working on a third Black Panther instalment, but there's been no official word on his progress. Coogler is also said to be involved in at least one planned small-screen BP spin-off, and was recently rumored as a possible contender to helm Avengers: Secret Wars.
The filmmaker is also taking charge of an X-Files reboot for the Disney-owned 20th Century Studios, so he's going to be very busy over the next couple of years.