Prior to 2025, Ryan Coogler was already a big deal, a director who helped some of the most thought -provoking and memorable blockbuster in the latest memory. But with his fifth movie “Sinners” he graduated from Great Blockbuster Film Makes to Genuine Autheur – and created in the process one of Most exciting hit films in years.
Coogler’s “sinner”, with Michael B. Jordan in a double role as a couple of twins living in 1932 Small Town Mississippi, is a Box Office success that defies many Hollywood expectations of what it looks like. It is an original film without existing source material and an R-ranked southern Gothic horror film, one that was a clear passion project for the director and had a relatively substantial price tag of about $ 90 million. And yet the movie – Based on incredible mouth of mouth and genuine audience passion – Became a massive financial success and collected over $ 360 million all over the world. It is a success that proves that there is passion for Coogler as a filmmaker, rather than just as a director behind (strong) IP films like “Black Panther” or “Creed.” And it gives him an empty check to make even more ambitious, exciting things in the future.
Coogler is not one to stay away from discussing his influences – in interviews he has talked about the films that helped to inspire him to conduct filmmaking and helped shape the projects he created. In particular, he has discussed how his formative memories from film were formed by the Black Cinema in the late 80s and early 90s, when he grew up in Oakland, California. Directors like Spike Lee and John Singleton made some of the first films he really loved, such as “Malcolm X” and “Boyz n the hood.” In other interviews he talks about his admiration for other black filmmakers such as Gina Prince-Bythewood and her classic romantic drama “Love & Basketball.” Other directors that he has praised include Japanese Auth Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu, Thriller Great Michael Mann, and Christopher Nolan.
Read on to see 12 of Coogler’s favorite films, compiled from interviews he has given over the years. The entries are listed in chronological order for the release date.
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“Late Spring” (Dir. Yasujirō Ozu, 1949)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
In June 2025, shortly after the enormous success of “sinners”, Coogler played a video for Criterion Collection’s series “Criterion Closet” Where he talked about some of his favorite movies. One movie he chose was “late running”, one of the most acclaimed films from Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu. The humane black and white drama stars Chishū Ryū as a widow older man determined to find a man for his only child, 27-year-old Noriko (Setsuko Hara). In the video, Coogler called the finale “One of the emotional ending that you will see in your life” and said to watch the movie in the 20s while he made “Fruitvale station” helped him realize that he wanted to become a father.
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“Seven Samurai” (Dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
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Another classic Japanese film Coogler selected under his criterion -wardrobe video is “Seven Samurai”, the very influential epic from Akira Kurosawa about a varied crew of warriors hired to protect a village from terrorist bandits. When he talked about what he has learned from Kurosawa, Coogler said “Seven Samurai” helped him understand the art of blocking and how to use natural elements such as wind and rain in his films.
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“Thief” (Dir. Michael Mann, 1981)
Image Credit: © United Artists/Courtesy Everett Collection
One of the films that Coogler chose in his criterion video was “Thief”, Michael Mann’s Breakout game movie debut. Neo-Noir stars James Caan 1981 as a professional poach and security expert who tries to escape criminal life after a last job. Coogler praised the film’s sense of style, especially the rain-cut streets in the film that would become a man-signature.
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“Do the right thing” (Dir. Spike Lee, 1989)
Image Credit: © Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
During a tour of 2018 by “Black Panther” at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Coogler revealed Five films he considered his favorites and said they all had a “huge impact” on his life. Two of the films were from Spike Lee, who was present at the show. One was “Do the right thing”, Lee’s masterpiece in 1989, which explored the racial tension in a Brooklyn district during a long summer day.
“The way (Spike) made Brooklyn feel. I had never been to New York, but to see what a child was me as:” I have to go to that place. “It just felt alive, it felt like home,” Coogler said during the show. “When I wanted to make movies, I wanted to make a movie that felt like home and felt as real as” doing the right thing. “
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“Boyz n The Hood” (Dir. John Singleton, 1991)
Image Credit: © Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Another movie Coogler, which was named a favorite during the show at Brooklyn Academy of Music, was “Boyz n the hood”, the breakout debut movie by John Singleton. In the lead role of Kuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut as three teenage boys who grew up in a southern central Los Angeles neighborhood controlled by Gang Warfare, the movie was critically acclaimed and made Singleton the first black man who received a best director nomine at Oscars.
“It wasn’t a movie for me, I saw black people on a hundred foot screen,” said Coogler. “I was just ruined after” Boyz. “
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“Malcolm X” (Dir. Spike Lee, 1992)
Image Credit: © Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
An epic biographical picture of the famous civil rights icon, Spike Lee “Malcolm X” is often regarded as one of the director’s best work and has the final performance from the main actor Denzel Washington. At the BAM show, Coogler talked about how to see the movie as a small child with his father had a huge impact on him.
“‘Malcolm x’ was a big one for me, because I had never seen a black man so powerful,” he said. “It was a point in the movie where Malcolm X showed up that everyone knew, he is in prison, and he has glasses on, and my dad said -” There he is! “We had watched the movie all the time, but he was waiting for Malcolm to show up. I remember I was boring when they killed Malcolm, but then the kids come home and the kids say” I am Malcolm X. “and then put it in my head:” Oh, this is a movie. “To see the kids who say it was a big thing.
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“Devil in a Blue Dress” (Dir. Carl Franklin, 1995)
Image Credit: © Tristar Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Under its criterion -Gardero video, Coogler called out the movie “Devil in a blue dress” in 1995 as a great influence on “sinners.” Neo-Noir from Carl Franklin Stars Denzel Washington as an ex-GI turned private investigator in Los Angeles after the Second World War who are wrapped up in a massive scandal when he was assigned to find the missing lover by a mayor candidate. “It’s just an incredible movie and an incredible movie Noir,” Coogler said about the movie.
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“Love Jones” (Dir. Theodore Witcher, 1997)
Another movie that Coogler praised during his criterion interview was “Love Jones”, Cult Classic 1997 Romantic Dramedy from Theodore Witcher who plays Larenz Tate and Nia for a long time as a poet and a photographer who develops feelings for each other despite mutual disgust to get involved in a relationship. “It’s a perfect movie,” Coogler said. “The chemistry is outside the lists.”
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“The following” (Dir. Christopher Nolan, 1998)
Image Credit: © Zeitgeist Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
During his criterion’s wardrobe interview, Coogler Christopher Nolan, with reference to him as a “mentor”, praised him and strongly recommended his debut function from 1998 “the following.” The 16mm black and white thriller is a low budget gem that focuses on a young unemployed writer who tracks strangers around the streets in London for creative inspiration and unintentionally sucked into a criminal plot in the process. “Many of Christopher Nolan brands are in this movie,” Coogler said. “So it’s amazing, if you come up, to get a little taste of this.”
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“Love & Basketball” (Dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000)
Image Credit: © New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection
The last movie Coogler discussed in his Criterion Closet video was “Love & Basketball”, the 2000 debut function in Gina Prince-Bythewood. The beloved sports romance stars Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps as two childhood friends and athletes as they persecute their professional basketball dreams as they slowly fall for each other. Coogler said he related to the film partly because he and his wife and producer Zinzi Coogler met as a student athlete. “I can’t watch this movie and not see us,” Coogler said. “The end of this movie puts a lump in the throat.”
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“Fish Tank” (Dir. Andrea Arnold, 2009)
Image Credit: © IFC Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
Andrea Arnold’s praised 2009 movie “Fish Tank” Stars Katie Jarvis as Mia, a rebel teenager living in eastern London who develops a stormy relationship with her mother’s new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender). Coogler mentioned the film as one of his favorites during the BAM show 2018 by “Black Panther.”
“One of the first films I ever saw that made me understand, it made me feel that I understood women more,” Coogler said. “It’s the best way I can describe the feeling I had looked at it”
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“A prophet” (Dir. Jacques Audiard, 2009)
Image Credit: © Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Jacques Audiard’s drama in 2009 “A Prophet” plays Tahar Rahim as a French-Algerian small criminal who is sentenced to six years in prison and rises slowly through prison hierarchy to become drug traffickers. Coogler named the film one of his favorites during his BAM screen 2018.
“I saw it during my first time out of the country,” Coogler said. “It’s a big deal for me.”
