‘Sinners’ Celebrated: Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media Receives Key To Warner Bros Studio; L.A. Venue Transformed Into Movie’s Juke Joint

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, CA studio co-founded by Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack, not just with its $4 billion global box office (the best YTD for any major), but several awards contenders in the mix; including Ryan Coogler‘s Sinners.

In what has been a two-day celebration of the Proximity Media produced movie, the Somerville restaurant in the Windsor Hills section of Los Angeles was transformed into the Juke Joint, the movie’s Southern blues hall on Friday night, complete with performances from the pic’s star Miles Caton (who plays the good-hearted, talented blues musician Sammie Moore in the film, who is 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, the youngest recipient to ever be lauded with that org’s honor.

“Our mission tonight was to bring you into the Juke,” said Serena Göransson, the movie’s executive music producer and collaborator to 2x 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 as well as “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 blue musician in Sweden and for the longest time, yearned to embark on a historical blues tour throughout America. That dream finally occurred with Ludwig’s prep on the film, traveling 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. studio. This was a tradition which Jack Warner started in the 1950s which entailed bestowing a key to those filmmakers and stars who Warner Bros had 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, Mississippi, only to learn that the place has come under the evil of vampires, was perceived as a gamble. For De Luca and Abdy, it was 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 Coogler a deal by which Sinners’ ownership reverts to the 2x 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 5x Oscar winner Francis Ford Coppola, praising Sinners, The Godfather director calling it “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 a 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 the movie’s casting director Francine Maisler, costume designer Ruth Carter, production designer Hannah Beachler, editor Michael Shawver and DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw in addition to 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.