Just days after Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos boldly told Time that the theatrical release model is "outdated" and stated on behalf of film lovers that "they'd like to see movies at home, thank you," this weekend's box office figures tell a very different story about the vitality of the bricks-and-mortar cinema experience. In the best end-of-April weekend cinemas have seen post-covid, Ryan Coogler's audacious vampire-musical-thriller Sinners and the 20th anniversary re-release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith have led the charge, with the former taking another $45 million bite out of the domestic box office to bring its running total to $161.6 million worldwide, and the latter feeling the Force with fans to the tune of $42.2 million globally.

To put these figures (courtesy of Deadline and Disney) into context, Sinners' chart-topping second weekend saw Coogler's massive genre swing — a word-of-mouth phenomenon that's captured the minds of critics and...